Carpe Diem
by FivebyFive89
Summary: A series of one shots mostly about the day to day shenanigans of the Tempest crew. Expect sporadic updates and Suvi/Sara related stuff. It's all a mix of action, humour, regular interactions etc involving most chracters
1. Not Dead Yet

**I have a few little things I've been doing in the world of Andromeda, mainly when I'm struggling to sleep (so like ALL the time XD) which I've decided to tweak and upload here. Mostly inbetweeny small scenes set during my first Andromeda fic. I'll try and get everything in chronological order and dump them here :) Enjoy!**

* * *

There was an AI talking inside her head.

Sara shifted to the edge of the hard metal slab she had been lying on in SAM node on board Ark Hyperion, gripped the edge tight until her knuckles grew white and her fingers throbbed with the strain as though to ground herself. She stared down at her feet, concentrating on the pulse she felt throbbing in her hands. She ached all over, as though she had run a marathon and then gone several rounds in a ring with a krogan warlord. As though she had fallen from a great height, almost suffocated to death… She felt fuzzy and unsteady, and breathing still hurt, a faint scraping in her throat and lungs with each intake of breath. The synthetically cooled air of the AI node ghosted around her and she shivered as it crept beneath the collar of her hoody. It helped to sharpen her mind, to push back the fog of drugs, of near-death, of shock. Machinery hummed and whirred around her, the only sound save for the insistent pounding of her pulse in her head, the rasp of her shaky breath.

This was... A disaster.

The events of the last few hours had unfolded so fast; too fast to process. The Pathfinder team had been forced to merely react without thinking to everything thrown at them and hope later that their choices had been the right ones. The mission had been a catastrophe. First contact had been an absolute shambles, and they were probably now at war with an unknown alien race. Kirkland was dead, her _father_ was dead, hell, apparently, she had even died, albeit briefly. Scott was in a coma. Habitat 7 was anything but a golden world. Her father had... Done something to some sort of atmospheric processor that seemed to clear the storm out, but it could be months, years, _decades_ before humanity could find a home there. And in his dying moments Alec Ryder had made his daughter humanity's Pathfinder.

Sara felt sick, felt her heart begin to pound hard against her ribs, a nervous throbbing that no amount of deep breathing would soothe. Panic took hold and her fingers trembled as she clenched and unclenched them in the heavy fabric of her trousers. At least Liam seemed to believe she was up for the job. Cora had been supportive enough too, but... Sara hadn't trained to be Pathfinder. Had no idea where to even start. She was 'recon specialist' not Pathfinder. She was anything but leader material. Humanity was doomed.

And now there was an AI in her head. SAM. Her father's creation. She 'knew' the AI well enough, of course she did. But now it was embedded in her consciousness, so entwined with her that apparently removing it could kill her. So, it would stay there, an ever present presence within her mind.

Cora, Liam, and Lexi had left her here in SAM node to recover from the damage officially becoming the Pathfinder had wreaked through her body, and she was glad. She could feel herself unravelling fast and didn't want anyone to witness it, _especially_ not her future crew and the eternally unruffled asari doctor Lexi T'Perro. Didn't want them to watch her come undone. Show weakness.

Her father, Scott… _everything_ …

She felt a lump forming in her throat, pain, fear, anguish building in her chest in a tight knot. She and her father had never gotten on. He always seemed to have a stick up his butt about something while Sara usually found everything to be a joke, no matter how serious the situation. If you couldn't laugh, well… She hated herself for it now. For sassing her father every chance she got, for pushing him, for allowing the distance between them to grow. They hadn't been close. And she had wasted so much time being angry at him, bitter for the way he had disgraced their family name with the very thing that was buried within her brain now.

"SAM?" She sniffled, feeling tears prick her eyes and blinking them back as her vision swam. She would _not_ cry. The AI, he could do things. Impossible things. Block the signals in her brain to make her move faster, to unlock the full potential of her muscles. "Can you make it so I can't feel?" She glanced up pathetically at the glowing blue image in front of her, the shifting lines of code that made up SAM. It bathed the room in its soft glow, flickering faintly. She felt like an emotional wreck, knew she looked a mess. Maybe if she was numb to the pain she could become the leader people needed her to be.

" _I cannot, Pathfinder_ ," came the answer, soft, robotic. He spoke on their private channel within her mind. It was unnerving, and yet comforting all the same. He would always be there, something from her father looking over her, guiding her.

She swiped a hand across her eyes angrily, feeling the tears come. Of course, he couldn't. Or rather, wouldn't. If she didn't acknowledge the problem, overcome it, then she couldn't grow, adjust, adapt. Trust her father to build a damn… _wiseness_ algorithm into his AI. She flopped backwards, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes as a sob escaped, like a whimper. She hated herself for it.

" _Would you like me to call someone to you_?" SAM offered.

"God, no!" Sara saw stars as she pressed her hands further into her eyes, trying to force the tears to stop. Her voice sounded thick, wet. "Just…I just need a minute."

Alone. She felt so alone. Back home, in the Milky Way, whenever anyone spoke of the trip to Andromeda it had been with such joy and hope. A new home, filled with opportunity. So far it had been nothing short of a nightmare. Over six-hundred years had passed. What if Habitat 7 wasn't the only golden world that had been wrecked? What if some disaster had made the whole of Andromeda inhospitable? What if those aliens they had found down there on Habitat 7 were the last of a dying species, scavenging, and murdering any who might take their valuable resources for themselves. Had the Andromeda Initiative already failed?

Sara shoved herself upright, wiping the tears from her face and taking several deep breaths to calm herself. It only failed if she lay down and cried about feeling sorry for herself. She sniffed loudly, dried her face with her hoody sleeves and steeled her resolve. She could do this. She _would_ do this. If only because she would die of shame if anyone found her in such a sorry state.

"I'm gonna Pathfind the shit out of Heleus," she announced, climbing to her feet. She wobbled, limbs feeling shaky and weak after her ordeal on Habitat 7. She quickly righted herself and waited a beat for the nausea to pass.

" _Pathfinder_?"

"I need food and sleep. Ping me when we get to the Nexus," she said, leaving SAM node. Her father's quarters were nearby, she could crash there until she was needed.

" _Of course, Pathfinder_."

* * *

 **This will be an ongoing thing, so stay tuned!**


	2. The Tempest

"Ready to see what Tann gave us?" Sara asked without turning from the display in front of her. Images of the Nexus and Ark Hyperion shone brightly beneath her fingers, showing options to direct the tram she and Cora occupied around the two enormous structures. They were currently on their way towards the Nexus docks to take a look at the sole surviving Pathfinder ship. She felt a fluttering building in her stomach, like butterflies, but it was ridiculous to feel so nervous. Despite her best efforts the feeling only increased with each second they moved closer towards the docks. Closer to the moment she had to actually start making decisions that would have massive impacts on their life in Heleus. She tried not to think of the tens of thousands of people depending on her to not screw up…

"I hear it's something special," Cora replied with a soft smile. Sara glanced back at her, then finally turned fully to face her second in command. The floor panels vibrated softly with power through the thick soles of her boots as the tram smoothly glided along its tracks, carrying her from the Hyperion cryo bay, away from her comatose brother, towards the docks and the final piece of equipment that would make her a full-fledged Pathfinder; a ship. _Her_ ship. She swallowed hard and clenched her hands into fists at her sides to hide the faint tremble that had started, watching as Cora swiped her omni-tool awake and the gauntlet filled the fast-moving tram with a faint orange glow.

"Pathfinder en route," Cora spoke into her omni-tool, and Sara wished people wouldn't call her that. She didn't deserve the title, not yet. Cora's self-assured demeanour usually served to force a calm over Sara, though currently it was doing nothing to soothe the bundle of nervous energy she had become. Sara had hoped her…slight breakdown in SAM node might prove cathartic. It had not. She was fast realizing her father had thrown her in at the deep end and it was making her skittish, forcing her to question herself. Was she really the best person for the job? Her father seemed to think so. Why else would he have transferred Pathfinder status to her? But was she a better choice than Cora? Unlikely, but Sara would at least try. Still, she couldn't help thinking her father had made a terrible mistake.

Her father… A hollow feeling settled in her chest, and she dropped her gaze to her feet to hide the look in her eyes.

"How's the ship?" Cora continued, thankfully oblivious.

" _In final checks and looking great_ ," a female voice responded, turian by the sounds of it.

"We won't be long." Cora tapped the gauntlet and it disappeared. "The way things are going, we'll be on our own out there," she said, looking up at Sara, who quickly arranged her features into a mask of stoicism.

She managed a bitter smile. "In other words, we're making this up as we go." She was glad to have Cora around, looking out for her. Cora never seemed rattled by anything, not even after learning Alec Ryder had passed on the mantle of Pathfinder to his daughter. All the training, all the time and effort, giving her all for a position that had been palmed off onto someone that had zero clue what they were doing. Sara hadn't seen the moment Cora had been told, but she suspected her friend had taken it in her stride, probably acknowledged it with a nod and moved onto the next topic at hand without so much as a blink.

Cora gave a snort of laughter. "We used to call that 'tactical improvisation'. But at least we'll be doing it in style."

Sara gave a wry smile. She had spent the time since meeting up in the cryo bay searching for any sign, the barest hint, that Cora harboured a simmering rage or slow burning hatred of her due to her father's decision but as yet had noticed nothing amiss. Sara wasn't sure if Cora was simply biding her time or if she truly didn't care about losing the job she had trained for to Alec's daughter, but for the moment Cora's presence was more than welcome. It was almost comforting. It did nothing to stop the squirming in her insides, but it still somehow made her feel stronger. It was confusing to say the least. The whole damn situation was a mess.

"Quit your scowling and put your game face on," Cora teased her. "We're nearly there."

Sara looked up at her and stuck out her tongue. "I'm not scowling, I'm _brooding._ There's a difference." Cora rolled her eyes good naturedly, rocking to one side as the tram halted. Sara took a quick step back to keep her balance, arranging her features into a carefully neutral expression to face the world outside their little bubble of privacy. The shuttle doors hissed open and they stepped out onto a platform bordered on two sides by green bushes and trees, an attempt to break up the endless white panels and glass and metal of the Nexus and its Arks. Heavy metal crates were stacked at the foot of a corrugated ramp that stretched up to a viewing area with a waist-high glass railing where a handful of people clustered, overlooking a large landing platform. The sterile air held a hint of fuel, sharp and acrid, the only difference to the rest of the Nexus which smelled almost clinical.

She could hear the rumble of engines approaching, and the small crowd waiting at the railing across from the tram stop turned their heads to look at a ship gracefully wheeling in the distance, heading towards them. Sara's blue eyes homed in on the flash of chrome and she blinked in surprise.

Cora smiled, eyes raised expectantly in the direction of the approaching ship. "They call her the Tempest," she announced grandly.

Sara felt nerves turn to excitement, her step halting as the sleek scouting ship came in to land and she stopped to stare in wonder, a slow grin spreading across her face as her eyes roved the gleaming hull of the ship, _her_ ship. There was no doubt it was built for speed and manoeuvrability, gently curving with wings that spread out at the rear in an arrowhead. White, black and red paintwork shone beneath the lights of the docks as the landing ramp lowered and the ship delicately touched down on the platform below.

Sara jogged to catch up with Cora as the blonde reached the railing and leaned against it, looking down at the ship and the dock workers scurrying around below, lifting crates and carrying them towards the ship.

"Oh, that is a _sweet_ ship," Sara commented, staring in wide-eyed wonder at the Tempest. She just couldn't stop _looking_ , blue eyes greedily devouring every detail.

Cora looked sideways at her and grinned. "And it's yours."

"That's so awesome…" Sara whispered without taking her eyes from the Tempest, lost in her own world. She had a _ship_! She had never had her own ship before. And what a ship it was. She felt a flicker of pride as she heard the gathered crowd exclaiming about how impressive the ship looked and how well it clearly handled. Her lips quirked up on one side, a smug smirk.

Cora chuckled and nudged her shoulder playfully with the knuckles of one hand. "Come on, let's take a closer look."

* * *

"Let's pick it up a bit, people! We're fourteen months late!" Sara recognised the voice from Cora's comms. Her eyes found the turian woman as she hefted a crate and carried it up the ramp, disappearing briefly inside the Tempest. Sara craned her head back, staring up at the smooth expanse of hull plating above her, mouth open slightly.

"You're drooling," Cora said playfully.

"Shut up," Sara replied without looking at her.

"So, you're the one who's making everything happen."

Sara snapped her head back down and quickly closed her mouth as the turian strode back down the ramp, looking pleased to see the two human women before her. Purple stripes were tattooed from her mandibles to the middle of her forehead and her eyes were hidden behind a blue-tinted visor.

"Vetra. Vetra Nyx," she introduced herself as she approached. "Initiative wrangler, provisioner, gunner, and everything in between." She came to a halt at the bottom of the ramp and Sara had to tip her head back to look up at her. "Are we ready? The sooner we get out of here, the better."

"You're coming with us?" Sara blurted, suddenly realising she had no idea of who would be joining her on the Tempest crew. _Her_ crew. That was a crazy thought… She shoved aside the flicker of anxiety it caused. Did they even have a crew? Would it just be Cora, Vetra and herself? And Liam, of course, wherever he had gotten to.

Vetra nodded once. "Yes, otherwise there's no way they're letting this ship of the station."

Sara cocked her head to one side, eyeing the turian suspiciously. "What's the rush?"

"Just don't want to waste any more time," Vetra said as though that explained everything, turning and making her way back up the ramp. Sara glanced at Cora, not believing that for a second, then hurried up after Vetra.

"Hold it! Hold it!" A male voice called across the dock. "You're not going anywhere!"

Vetra froze as Sara and Cora halted and looked back down the ramp at a rapidly approaching stuffy-looking human man clutching a datapad.

"Damn it!" Vetra hissed, turning again to face the man and expertly hiding her irritation behind a charming smile.

"Whatever happened, it wasn't me!" Sara said quickly and held up her arms as though the man had pulled a gun on her, earning a raised eyebrow from Cora. "I just got here."

"Director Addison wants to see a complete report of the Tempest's supplies, munitions, and crew," the man informed them, ignoring Sara's remark as he paused at the bottom of the ramp, looking up at them expectantly.

Cora crossed her arms over her chest, biting back an impatient sigh.

"Director Tann overruled Director Addison," Sara told him slowly, piecing it together even as he spoke. The two directors were playing off each other, struggling even now to exert dominance over each other. Typical bureaucratic crap. Worse was the fact they had allowed it to spill over into the mission.

"The ship's loaded out with equipment for outpost discovery- squarely under Director Addison's purview," he shot back, lifting his datapad so they could see it as though that was all the evidence he needed to keep them grounded. Sara pursed her lips. That was a very good point, but still.

Vetra brushed between Cora and Sara, eyes on the man and hips definitely swaying. "Seen you around. Ben, right?" She gestured passed him as he looked up at her in confusion. She lay a hand on his shoulder, turning him around to walk back along the landing platform, away from the ship. Ben allowed himself to be guided. Sara suspected he was more used to following orders to the letter, allowing himself to be pushed without question.

"What's she doing?" She whispered, leaning towards Cora while keeping her eyes on the turian and the young man as they spoke out of earshot. He was looking up at Vetra hopefully, while she appeared the picture of sympathy.

"Whatever she's doing it's working," Cora replied, nodding her head towards the datapad in Ben's hands as he heaved a sigh and began swiping a finger against the screen. He then looked up at Vetra with a wry smile and headed back the way he had come, shaking his head as he left the landing platform, as though he couldn't believe what he had done, and Vetra sauntered back over to the ship looking incredibly smug.

"You got him to okay it?" Sara asked as Vetra climbed the ramp.

"All things considered, it was an easy ask." The turian turned to face them as she walked backwards, raising her hands in a shrug. "And right now, you need people tearing down obstacles, not putting up more." She faced front again.

"Finally," Cora hissed at Sara as they followed Vetra, "someone who cares about doing stuff, and not just _talking_ about it."

They found themselves in the cargo hold of the Tempest, a wide open area with an upper walkway that hugged the walls, showing the deck above. The air was cool and smelled clean, a definite improvement over the warm docks of the Nexus and the scent of metal and fuel. The crates that had been ferried from the landing platform up the ramp had been stowed away. The ship was flight ready.

"I'll show you around," Vetra said to Sara. Cora pressed a hand to Sara's shoulder, squeezing comfortingly and smiling at her encouragingly as she crossed the cargo bay, leaving her friend with the turian.

* * *

The Tempest wasn't a large ship, but it seemed almost empty. So far the only other crew members Sara had met had been the blue skinned asari doctor Lexi T'Perro, and the stocky human engineer Gil Brodie. She knew the ship was in use, it didn't have that sharp, slightly chemical 'fresh off the factory floor' smell to it any more and some of the floor panels were scuffed. There were more crew members lurking somewhere. There had to be. They hadn't come across anyone capable of flying the thing yet.

The idea that it was hers left her trailing after the tall turian woman in a slight daze, staring around herself and barely taking in any of the reams of information Vetra had apparently memorized. The idea that it should have been _Dad_ 's left her feeling sick, that Scott should have been there too, walking beside her behind their father, left her empty.

They climbed a short flight of stairs and a doorway opened up before them automatically. Vetra lead her through, out onto another open deck with a round desk in the middle, projecting a glowing blue model of the Nexus above the surface. Further rooms branched off from the central space, hidden behind closed doors and the walls shone with banks of computer consoles. "We call this the research room. There's space for upgrading equipment, gathering intel."

" _Router engaged_ ," SAM spoke through speakers hidden within the ceiling panels somewhere. Sara found her eyes drawn upwards at his voice, searching for the source. " _Securing connection to Tempest_."

Movement tore her gaze away from the sloping ceiling high above.

A young woman was making her way down a curved ramp from somewhere above them, fiery red hair brushing her jaw, turquoise eyes bright with excitement. "Welcome aboard, SAM," she said, English accented with Scottish. "And Ryder, of course!" She slowed as she passed Sara, throwing a bright, enthusiastic smile her way as she realized she must be in the presence of the human Pathfinder she had been hearing so much about. Sara found herself grinning back automatically, turning to track the other woman's path through the research room as Vetra lead her up the ramp.

Vetra followed Sara's gaze, noted the interest, and hid a sly smile as she introduced the next member of their crew, "all headed by the talented Suvi Anwar, our science officer." Sara turned her gaze back to the turian, as though only just remembering she was there. "Your quarters are below. Plenty of space up here to get everyone together." She gestured to the area around them. Sofas were arranged around a large circular desk with the Andromeda Intiative logo stamped into the centre of its surface. Windows curved around the room, filling the area with bright light and offering wide views of the docks outside. Vetra moved over to the glass barriers that marked the edge of the room, overlooking the deck below. Sara followed her, wrapping her fingers around the cool metal handrail and looking down. "It's all yours. She's light, stealthy, and the fastest ship in her class." Judging by Vetra's tone, the turian loved the ship as much as Sara already did.

Sara nodded her head faintly, trying to take it all in. She spotted Suvi leaving the research room, heading towards the bridge, and wondered vaguely where Cora had disappeared off to. "It's really going to be something, isn't it?" She murmured. Tempest was an amazing ship, manned by a crew who were the best in their respective fields. She was finally beginning to believe that perhaps she could do this, lead them in finding a home in Andromeda. She didn't have to do it alone. Hell, Cora would probably drag them to victory through sheer determination.

"I haven't even shown you the best part yet," Vetra replied with a grin. Sara looked sideways at her. "Everyone's on board. When you're ready to fly, head over to the bridge. Our pilot should have everything good to go." She pointed one claw towards the walkway Sara had seen Suvi moving along, then turned to go. Sara heard her footsteps retreating down the ramp.

The Tempest. It should have been her father's ship. Sara felt a dull ache in her chest, tainting the excitement that had slowly replaced her nervousness and uncertainty. This moment shouldn't have been hers. But it was. Weird and horrifying as that was, as alone in a strange new galaxy as Sara felt, she just had to deal with that. Moping and worrying wouldn't change the facts. She let out a soft sigh, tapping her fingers against the railing, then pushed off and turned, crossing the vidcon to jog down the ramp and head for the bridge.

She slowed to a walk as she neared the door. The heavy panels hissed as they slid open automatically to admit her and she stepped onto the bridge, pace slowing further until she stood still in the centre of the room, mouth dropping open slightly. The window wrapped the bridge, huge, higher than she stood. She could see the Nexus outside, the docks marching away into the distance. There were two large consoles beneath the windows, covered in elaborate controls and screens illuminated by orange lights. A salarian sat at the one to her right, but she ignored him as she stared around herself. There was a platform in the centre between the pilots' controls, the area she was meant to stand at, she supposed, as she controlled her ship, gave orders. She felt emotion well in her chest, feeling overwhelmed. It was really happening, then. She was the human Pathfinder, currently the only Pathfinder known to the Nexus. Sara Ryder, daughter to a legend.

"Departure trajectory locked, Nexus control."

Sara jumped as the salarian spoke, his long fingers flying over the buttons in front of him with practiced speed. He twisted in his seat to look at Sara, who merely blinked back at him. "Ah! Time for introductions!" He rose to his feet and strode briskly towards her. "You must be Ryder. Kallo Jath. A pleasure to be here- and to meet you, of course." He seized her hand and shook it enthusiastically. Sara opened her mouth to greet him, but he forged on, "I'll be piloting the Tempest at your word. Quite the ship! But it'll take a Pathfinder's guidance to see us through Heleus."

Sara smiled wryly, and waited a beat to make sure he would actually allow her to get a word in. "Yes…I'm still kinda figuring out the whole 'Pathfinder' thing," she admitted, and realized a second after saying it that that was probably not something her crew wanted to hear from their leader. "But I'll do my best to keep us out of danger," she added quickly, though Kallo seemed unperturbed, nodding along to her words with a pleasant smile on his face. He seemed so unlike Tann. Much more approachable.

"That's reassuring. Wouldn't want to lose my finest work to that angry cloud," Kallo replied, glancing towards his work station.

"Your work?" Sara repeated curiously.

"Yes," he smiled proudly, drew himself up higher and even puffed out his chest a little, "I was test pilot for the Tempest's earliest prototypes. I admit, I'm itching to see how she performs out here," Kallo motioned for Sara to follow him as he crossed the bridge towards the centre platform between the consoles. As they approached, a loop of thick metal rose up from the floor, halting at waist height. Computer icons and buttons came to life along its surface, a dazzling display of the Tempests systems. Sara looked blankly down at it all, a sense of panic welling in her chest, followed by a flash of annoyance. She was supposed to know what to do. She would have better luck decoding ancient asari texts.

Kallo looked expectantly at her.

"Uh," she cleared her throat awkwardly, feeling her cheeks flame, "so, how do I…?" She glanced up at him, gesturing to the myriad controls.

She had expected to see surprise that the Pathfinder had no idea what she was doing, but the salarian simply turned to the controls and reached out for them. "The console syncs with your implant," he explained patiently. "Just swipe, touch a destination here," he indicated a panel with one finger, "and the nav system calculates everything. Very efficient." He flashed a quick smile at her.

"It was optimized for a Pathfinder," Cora spoke from behind her. Sara turned to find most of the crew had assembled behind Kallo and herself. She hadn't heard them enter.

Suvi had taken up position at the console on the other side of the room and was busily typing commands in. Cora, Liam and Vetra stood directly behind Sara at the ready.

"Everything's secure, if you're ready," Vetra told her.

"Is anyone ready for something this big?" Liam asked with a shrug, dark eyes playful as they found Sara's.

Sara raised an eyebrow. They didn't have a choice. It was now or never. "I guess we have to be."

"All right," Kallo said, satisfied. He left Sara's side and dodged around the gathered crew to return to his seat. Cora swiped her omni-tool on and glanced over the display.

"Command access is transferring successfully," she announced, then clasped her hands behind her back, standing to attention.

"Um, science and monitoring stations look fine. Lexi is reporting in," Suvi said, looking up at Sara from her chair. Sara caught her eye and offered a faint smile of encouragement, sensing Suvi wasn't as used to giving status updates as the others were.

"Helm is green," Kallo added. "Gil reports the drive core is online."

Sara realized then they were all reporting to _her_. The butterflies in her stomach had turned into bats.

"This is it, Ryder," Cora said. "The Tempest is yours. Unless you've got something to say, for the log?" She added pointedly.

Speeches. No one had told her she would have to make speeches. She felt a bolt of panic. Public speaking was not her forte, especially not on the fly. "We've got this," she blurted, and could almost _hear_ Cora cringe. She scrambled for more to say. "Things seem bad, but we've already beaten the odds," she said. That sounded good. "And we'll beat them again." She shook her head and turned away from the Pathfinder's controls to face her crew, meeting the gaze of each person as she had seen her father do while delivering his speech before the Pathfinder team departed for Habitat 7. That already felt like so long ago… "You know it, I know it, so let's show them what we've got."

Cora flashed an encouraging smile, nodding once and giving her a discreet wink. Sara grinned at the silent praise and faced the controls once more, locking in their destination with a swipe of one finger.

"Nexus control, this is the Tempest- ident two-five, two-seven, prepping to depart," Kallo said. Sara could feel power thrumming through her ship as they began to rise smoothly off the platform. Excitement swelled inside her chest as the deck rumbled faintly beneath her feet. The landing struts and ramp retracted as the Tempest slowly angled away from the docks and pulled away, heading out into open space.

" _Departure vector verified, Tempest,_ " the Nexus responded." _Godspeed, Pathfinder_."

Sara grit her teeth in an effort to contain the excited grin she felt tugging at her lips, trying to maintain an aura of indifference, to look calm and in control. This moment should have been her Father's, she should have had Scott at her side, so much should have been different. She would make them proud. She thumb-hooked her belt, watching the bright lights of the Nexus give way to black emptiness, dusted white with stars and the ever-present angry red and purple tendrils of the Scourge. The engine's pitch increased and then, with a faint jerk, Kallo jumped them to FTL, and all she could see was rippling light spiralling around them.

"To Eos, then," Sara said. "What would have been our Habitat 1." She heard Cora, Liam and Vetra leave the bridge, the door whispering closed behind them.

"Two failed outposts put an end to that idea," Suvi replied grimly, swiping at the display in front of herself.

"Maybe we can turn things around," Sara said hopefully, and turned to leave the bridge.

Suvi hopped out of her chair. "Ah, Pathfinder?" Sara paused, halfway to the door, and looked at the redhead curiously as she hurriedly closed the gap between them. "It's so good to finally meet you." Suvi smiled at her, head tipped back slightly to look up at her as Sara was a few inches taller.

"We've already met, in the research room," Sara gestured over one shoulder vaguely in the direction of the research room. "Remember?"

"Not properly," Suvi said, reaching out and taking Sara's hand, shaking it. Her hand was warm through the soft fabric of her gloves, her grip firm. "I'm Doctor Suvi Anwar, assigned to act as liaison between your crew and the Nexus science team."

"What do you mean 'liaison'?" Sara asked, placing her hands on her hips and giving Suvi a playfully suspicious look. "Are you going to spy on me?"

Suvi looked horrified. "Of course not! I'm not interested in politics," she said hurriedly, worried she had insulted the Pathfinder, but Sara just grinned. Suvi blushed and glanced down. A tease _and_ attractive, no one had warned her about that. Then again, they had all been expecting Alec Ryder instead.

"Well, pleased to meet you, Suvi," Sara told her, folding her arms over her chest. "I'm Sara Ryder." She flashed a mischievous grin, playing along with the 'proper' meeting.

"Of course," Suvi gave a soft laugh. "I can't wait to get to work," she announced suddenly and Sara cocked her head curiously. "There hasn't been much to do so far, unfortunately. I've studied all the planetary scans, I've even had some hands-on experience with Heleus soil samples." Sara raised her eyebrows at the eagerness of her science officer, which Suvi mistook as being impressed. "If you want I'll send you my analysis on the native bacteria and microfauna. Sixty pages," she added almost proudly.

Sara hadn't really been listening, rather she had been enjoying the Scottish lilt in Suvi's voice. However, that last part caught her attention and she blinked. Suvi was clearly waiting for her response. "That's…A lot of pages," she said eventually. "About dirt." She hoped Suvi wouldn't press the matter, she really didn't want to read a sixty-page report on dirt…

"Oh, you don't have to be kind," Suvi waved off the remark and smiled at her and Sara was lost once again. Kind…? "I know it's barely more than a summary." Sara's eyebrow twitched. Sixty pages was a summary…? "Anyway, I've waited months to get out there to see Heleus," Sara coughed to cover up her sigh of relief that Suvi had let the offer to share her report drop. "It's why I joined the Initiative. The Milky Way was just a corner of a vast universe. A corner of a tiny corner. We're the ones who got to step out of that corner. It's incredible!" She gushed, sounding truly awestruck while gesturing enthusiastically.

Sara found it infectious and nodded in agreement. She wondered vaguely if Suvi always spoke so much, or if it was just the excitement at finally being able to get away from the Nexus and actually _do_ what they had come all this way to do. "It's definitely been eventful," Sara remarked, thoughts of her first foray into the experiences Andromeda had to offer dimming her smile somewhat. "Not _quite_ what I expected, but hopefully things improve. Anyway, will you be joining us on missions?" She asked. She suspected the answer was no, Suvi really didn't give the impression of someone used to action, but didn't want to assume.

"Oh!" Suvi gave an embarrassed laugh. "That's funny…Me, out there, with the guns and the danger and everything…" She twisted her hands around each other, the idea clearly making her nervous.

Sara gave a cocky grin. "I'm good with guns and danger. I could teach you. And make sure you're okay out there." She jerked her head towards the windows, indicating the outside world.

"Really?" Suvi tried to tamp down the hope in her voice. Spend time with Sara? Yes please, where did she sign up for that? "I couldn't imagine a better teacher!" She blurted gleefully. _Why? Why say that?! You've only just met, you dork_. Sara looked bemused by the overly eager reply, raising one eyebrow as she smiled. Suvi glanced at the faint pink scar that marked the right side of her face, looked back to distractingly blue eyes. "Um, I should go," she could already feel herself blushing bright red and hoped Sara didn't notice. "I have…data from the Nexus science team to look through."

Sara nodded, still grinning. "Sure, okay. Talk later," she said, lifting a hand in farewell to Kallo as he glanced over curiously, turning and heading out of the bridge as Suvi scurried back to her work station, feeling as though her cheeks matched her fiery hair. She dropped into her chair and blew out a low breath through her mouth. That hadn't quite gone to plan. She had hoped to give the impression of calm intellectual, suspected the result had leaned more towards babbling nerd.

Kallo looked over at her.

"Don't say anything," Suvi warned him without even looking up from her work.

Kallo merely grunted and shook his head, marvelling at the weirdness of humans.

* * *

 **A/N: Yep, so if you hadn't noticed, anything Andromeda related that I write will never be anything but Suvi/Sara :P**


	3. Still not Dead

Sara's ragged breathing sounded loud within the confines of her helmet as she sprinted across the scorching desert sand. Behind her, remtech gleamed black and shining in the blinding sunlight, smooth columns and slopes of iridescent stone and metal that clustered around a raised platform with a single console in the centre. The remnant bots had been perfectly docile until Sara had interfaced with that console. Awake, as evidenced by the glowing central 'eye' of the assemblers, and the hovering of the observers, but motionless. The second a connection sparked between the Pathfinder and the tech, the remnant had leapt to action, focusing on Sara, Drack and Liam and opening fire. They had been lucky to get off the platform alive and in one piece. Unfortunately, the remnant had pushed them in the opposite direction to the safety of the Nomad, parked on the other side of the ruins with several meters of open desert between the ruins and itself.

"Boulder!" Liam shouted, kicking up puffs of sand as he ran hell for leather towards a rock formation that seemed to have sprouted out of the sand like some bizarre plant. The rock was red and crumbling and Sara didn't have much hope for it holding up against remnant lasers and projectiles, looking as it did like a strong gust of wind would reduce it to dust. But it would have to do because there was absolutely nothing else nearby that even remotely resembled cover. Liam leaped up onto the top without breaking stride, landing on his stomach and clawing himself behind the rocks. Sara followed shortly after, landing awkwardly on her side and feeling the breath knocked from her lungs as she hit the ground. Drack heaved himself over and dropped down beside them as a bright crimson laser fired above them and slowly lowered until it was scorching rock. The trio looked up at it worriedly as they caught their breath. The laser shut off, leaving a band of rock blackened and steaming. They were safe for the moment.

"I said you shouldn't have touched the damn console," Drack growled at Sara, checking over his shotgun as he sat with his back to the rock. They were in the shade, though it didn't feel like it. The temperature amongst the shadows of Eos was perhaps a hair cooler than in the blazing starlight. They heard the awkward clattering steps of assemblers approaching across the platform they had just vacated.

Sara eyed up further rock formations in the near distance. Too far to run to, the remnant would blast them into confetti before they made it even half way. Besides, they needed to get to the Nomad, and that was the other way. "The remnant weren't _doing_ anything, I thought it'd be okay," she grumbled back at him, feeling a pang of shame. If anyone was injured here then the blame could be placed squarely at her feet.

It was the nullifier that had appeared from behind a pillar that was really the problem. Drack and Liam had been poised to deal with the observers and assemblers should they awaken. They had barely brought down a bot each when the nullifier clanked out into the open, anchored itself and let rip with explosive projectiles. Sara had almost lost her shields there and then and had only been saved by Liam tackling her down to the ground.

"Assemblers are gonna start making the little bots soon," Liam warned, bracing his assault rifle against his shoulder and rising up enough to see over their cover and open fire. Sara heard bullets strike metal and the resultant muted explosion of a remnant bot being destroyed. Liam dropped back down as twin blue lasers flickered into life and aimed in his direction, the nullifier preparing to home in on him.

Sara grit her teeth in frustration. "Yes, okay, I'm a crappy leader who makes crappy decisions!" She snapped irritably. She had endangered her companions due to being overly curious, activating the remtech without considering the consequences. Jumping into the pool without checking to see how deep it was, so to speak. Exactly how her father had done back on Habitat-7, and how did that turn out? Lexi would probably give her a grilling even if they all returned to the Tempest in one piece.

"That's not what I meant," Liam said, looking at her sideways. "Though…We probably should have brought Peebee with us."

"What, so she can examine the bots to death?" Sara asked sulkily, worry translating to annoyance in an attempt to keep up her 'tough girl' persona. What had her father been thinking, making her the Pathfinder when Cora was so much better suited to the role? Alec Ryder knew his daughter wasn't a leader, and here she was proving just that.

"Hey, don't sass me!" Liam protested, dark eyes narrowed with offense. Drack gave an impatient growl and heaved himself upright to start firing his gun at the oncoming remnant.

Sara scowled petulantly at Liam, though the expression was mostly lost inside her helmet. He was right, she supposed. Peebee seemed to have the bots figured, mostly. "I'm the boss!"

"That doesn't mean you can sass me!"

Sara arched one eyebrow at him, then realised, again, he couldn't see the motion through her tinted faceplate. "It does, and I can fire you too."

"What?" Liam's voice went high with disbelief. "No, you can't!"

Drack shoved Sara's shoulder with one leg, firing shot after shot over their rock. "Will you kids shut up and fight the bots?" He snarled.

"Sorry Drack…" They chorused meekly.

"We should probably just always have Cora with us," Sara grumbled bitterly. "She's so much better at this than me. Hell, she trained for it hard enough!"

"Hey, you're doing great!" Liam insisted, bringing up his AR and shifting side-on to the rock. He frowned at Sara and reached out a hand to give her shoulder a comforting squeeze. Sara barely felt it through the armour, though the gesture was appreciated. She flashed him an unseen smile, though Liam must have understood because he smiled back at her.

"Learn by doing," Drack told her, crouching down to avoid a laser beam slicing through the air towards them.

"I don't want to learn by getting you all killed!" Sara cried, unable to understand why they just didn't seem to _get_ it. She had thrown them into a life or death situation, but they were decidedly unconcerned. Instead, they were encouraging her to assess the situation and apply it to future endeavours.

"You're not going to get us killed," Drack replied simply, standing and dropping his shotgun to snatch a breacher out of the air and tearing it in half with a roar. Metal screamed, and circuitry spat sparks as wires split. The krogan tossed the useless pieces aside and bent down to retrieve his weapon.

"Breachers," Liam said drily.

"Right," Sara muttered, bringing her sniper rifle over her shoulder and into her hands. She rested the gun against the warm rock, took aim, and fired, bringing down an assembler with a precision hit straight through its gleaming red eye as it hopped down from the ruins into the sand. Glass and metal sprayed across the sand as the dead machinery crumpled.

"Nice shot, kid!" Drack exclaimed beside her and Sara felt a swell of pride. Liam let out several bursts from his gun, dropping approaching breachers and forcing another assembler into cover. The trio ducked as the nullifier began to fire on them again.

"I have an idea," Sara announced suddenly, sat with her shoulders against the rock. She could feel the impact of the nullifier's energy projectiles slamming into their cover and vibrating through her armour. Tiny stone chips rained down upon the three of them and then the barrage halted. The rock was doing remarkably well at holding up against the onslaught. Sara leaned forwards and holstered her sniper over her shoulder, switched it for the heavy pistol at her hip. Drack eyed the weapon change with dismay, as though she had instead opted to switch her sniper for a water pistol.

"What're you gunna do with _that_?"

Sara checked her ammo and released the safety. "I need you two to keep firing. I'm going to get rid of the nullifier."

"Uh, how exactly?" Liam asked nervously, but, rather than answer, Sara shoved off from the rock and sprinted with her head down back towards the ruins. "Ryder!" He cried in alarm, lunging around the rock to stare after her.

"Shut up and shoot!" Drack roared, leaping up and firing blindly, making as much noise as he could, presenting a larger target than Sara as she dodged and wove across the sand. Liam let out a frustrated growl and stood up, immediately bringing down an observer that had turned to take aim at her.

Sara's heart leaped into her throat as she charged straight at the remnant. There was no cover to scramble to should she trip and fall. If she went down, if she faltered, she was dead. She was beyond the point of no return, this _had_ to work. She swallowed her fear and pushed herself to the limit, focussed with laser precision on the task at hand.

An assembler moved out of cover up on the platform ahead of the nullifier. She raised her pistol and squeezed the trigger, blasting shot after shot into the heavy black armour without breaking stride. The bot was still falling even as she leaped up onto the platform, legs pounding like pistons.

The nullifier still had its shields up, Liam and Drack were focussing fire on the shimmering energy field, trying to keep the bots attention on them. She could see ripples spreading outwards from the sites of their shots, like rings of water spreading outwards from stones thrown into ponds.

Sara reached down, fingers closing around the small metal disk attached to her belt, tugging the mine free, trying not to think about how incredibly _stupid_ she was. It felt heavy in her hand as she depressed the timer with her thumb, eyes on the nullifier as it began to turn towards her, the only bot left now. She saw the targeting lasers beginning to move, to zero in on her, sweeping across the platform as the nullifier took one step after the other to face her. She put on a burst of extra speed, closing the gap between them and threw herself upwards and over the nullifier, curled her knees into her chest and twisted in mid-air to slap the mine onto the bot. She felt the magnet engage, landed on her feet and kept running, hurling herself behind a pillar just as the mine detonated. At such close range the sound was almost deafening. Burning shrapnel pelted her hiding place, skittering past her, then silence, broken only by Liam's crow of triumph from behind their rock.

Sara slid slowly down the pillar on legs like jelly until she was sitting, let her head fall back against the smooth surface with a faint clack as her helmet struck it. Her chest heaved as she gasped for breath, heart raging against her ribs, and her legs burned with exertion. She didn't move as she heard Drack and Liam climbing onto the platform and making their way over to her.

"That is exactly the sort of badarse move we need to record and send to the Nexus!" Liam told her excitedly, crouching beside her and punching her shoulder good-naturedly.

Sara gave a weary laugh. "Well, I'm not doing it again," she said between breaths, feeling the trembling after effects of adrenaline flooding her body. She clenched her fists to hide it, but Liam was far too excited to notice anyway.

"It was reckless," Drack growled. Sara wasn't sure if he was scolding her or complimenting her. He reached down a three-clawed hand to her and she took it gratefully, allowing the krogan to haul her up onto her feet with enough strength to make her shoulder pop in protest.

"Come on," she said, making her way on shaky legs across the ruins towards the Nomad, "let's get back to Prodromos."

* * *

Sara sat cross legged atop one of the workbenches in the cargo bay of the Tempest surrounded by the components of her sniper rifle. Her hair was still damp from her shower, loose about her shoulders as it dried. Her body ached faintly from its ordeal, but she was buzzing. Rushing the nullifier had been idiotic, but it had worked. Liam thought the whole thing had been awesome and, though he hadn't said anything about it on the drive back to Prodromos, Sara sensed Drack had quietly approved of the heroics. She had been utterly terrified as she charged across the sand towards danger, but afterwards? After the fear dissipated she was left feeling indestructible, like she could take on the whole of Heleus single-handedly. She smirked to herself as she lifted the scope of her gun to one eye and peered through it.

"There you are!"

Sara's eyes flicked up to meet the hazel gaze of Cora as she crossed the cargo bay towards her, Initiative-issue magnetic mug in hand. Steam drifted upwards from whatever she was drinking. Coffee, Sara noted as Cora halted in front of her and she caught the scent of it. She lowered the scope and cocked her head in question.

"Here I am," she agreed.

"I hear you charged a nullifier?" Cora lifted one eyebrow, expression half amused, half concerned.

Sara paused. How had Cora heard that…? "Uh…"

"I overheard Liam telling Peebee about your heroics at the ruins," Cora explained as though reading her mind, trying to discreetly check Sara over for injuries. "Sounds like you had quite the adventure."

The cocky grin faded almost instantly from Sara's face. If Liam had told Peebee, and Cora had overheard, then it wouldn't be long before-

The intercom crackled and Lexi's voice was heard across the ship, tone definitely frosty. "Pathfinder to medbay, please."

Sara tipped her head back and groaned in dismay as Cora hid a snort in her mug of coffee. "Goddammit, Liam!"


	4. On the Merits of Coffee

Sara gave a wide yawn, screwing her eyes shut tight and feeling a little pop in her jaw as it snapped back closed. She blinked her eyes open and stared blearily into the cupboard in the Tempest galley as she rummaged for foil coffee sachets. Sadly the Initiative hadn't forked out for the real stuff. They were stuck instead with the slightly metallic-tasting instant brand. She grabbed one out of the box at the back, tore the top off the sachet and upended the contents into her mug while shoving the cupboard door shut. It closed without a sound, sealing itself magnetically. She poured freshly boiled water into her mug and stirred, praising every deity known and unknown that the galley was blessedly empty that morning. She hated people seeing her so groggy and out of sorts when she woke up, hoping instead to project an air of general baddassery, and that morning she was feeling particularly dire. It had taken her hours to get to sleep. Hours of lying in the dark, staring into shadows that gradually lightened with the steady passage of time as she _knew_ she wouldn't sleep. Her eyelids didn't feel heavy as they should, her brain buzzed with activity. And she didn't know _why_. Sure, she had always been a light sleeper, but this? Maybe it was a residual effect of the cryostasis, or that... The air was different in Andromeda.

In the end she had snagged a couple of hours sleep, and woken feeling like her mouth was filled with sand and her limbs were made of lead. A headache was starting to make itself known too behind her eyes, a dull yet persistent throb. Nothing some good ole fashioned caffeination wouldn't fix.  
She lifted the mug, her lifeline, feeling it resist slightly as the magnetic base clung to the work surface and headed out of the galley into the corridor outside.

Liam had once joked that they should flush out the medigel injectors in Sara's armour and replace it with coffee. The thought made her smile as she lifted her mug and tested the temperature of her drink against her lips. She winced at the sting. Still too hot to drink.

She zombied along the corridor and into the tech suite and almost walked straight into Cora, who was just leaving with her eyes glued to the data pad in her hand. Sara merely stopped walking and hoped for the best, lacking the energy Cora clearly had in spades as the blonde neatly sidestepped her and glanced up in surprise.

"Oh!" Cora looked startled at first, but then she smiled. "Sorry. Morning, Ryder." She was way too chipper and she knew it, Sara could see it in the soft playful light in her friend's warm hazel and _very_ alert eyes.

Sara merely grunted in response. Her own eyes were still glassy with sleep.

"You look tired," Cora said suddenly, hazel eyes flicking over Sara's face worriedly, taking in the dark smudges beneath usually bright eyes, the almost slack expression. Cora lowered her voice, as though afraid the rest of the sleeping crew might overhear, "did you sleep bad again?" Sara met her gaze but said nothing, seriously regretting admitting to Cora that she had been struggling to sleep for a while now. Cora took answer in the silence. "You should talk to Lexi," she continued, reaching out a comforting hand and squeezing Sara's shoulder.

"Cora..." Sara groaned, closing her eyes and raising her face to the ceiling as though hoping to gain strength from the overhead lighting. It was an old argument, one that was a constant source of frustration for both women as Sara wouldn't budge on her stance, insisting she was fine, and Cora wouldn't shut up.

"I mean it. She might help," Cora urged, releasing Sara's shoulder to fold her arms over her chest, holding the data pad out to one side. Sara dropped her chin and scowled at her. "I won't bring it up with her, just think about it," Cora said, because she knew not even Drack could force Sara to ask for help. The more anyone insisted the more Sara would resist. She needed to do it herself.

"I know. I will," Sara promised, reaching up with one hand to push her bangs out of her face. "I'm sure it's just because everything is so... Different here." Not just here, on Eos, but _here_ in Heleus. She just needed to acclimatize, that was all. She shrugged as though that solved it. Cora shot her a look that clearly stated she saw straight through the flimsy lie Sara was telling herself. It was something within the Pathfinder herself that had interrupted her sleep. Sara glanced away, not wishing to acknowledge that despite it being already in the back of her mind.

"Anyway," Cora thankfully changed the subject, perhaps sensing Sara had had her fill of friendly advice for the day. "I'm glad I bumped into you," she unfolded her arms and tapped at her data pad. "I don't suppose you've checked your messages yet-"

Sara held up a hand to stop Cora talking. Her lieutenant faltered and looked at her curiously, midway through scrolling messages on her data pad.  
Sara lifted her mug and had a generous mouthful, closing her eyes in bliss as warm bitter liquid filled her mouth and then flowed down her throat, spreading heat and blessed caffeine as it went.

Cora heaved a resigned sigh and frowned at her friend. "Coffee really shouldn't be needed before reports can be heard, you know?" But, in all the time she had known Sara, she had never seen her without a mug of coffee to jump start her in the morning.

"That is where you are wrong," Sara replied, looking a little more human already. A faint smirk tugged at her lips. "Coffee is needed before all things. It is a magical fuel carefully crafted by the gods so that us mere mortals can achieve great feats such as talking to Tann without poking his eyes out with a spoon, or listening to Tann without frying comms, or looking at Tann without trying to punch him."

Cora nodded slowly. "Tann features a lot there..." She commented pointedly.

"Aha," Sara replied cheerfully enough, complete with angelic smile.

"Aggressively so," Cora needlessly added. She knew Sara had a... Severe dislike of Tann. She tried to discourage it as much as she could, as the director of the Andromeda Initiative was growing increasingly fed up with the Pathfinder's attitude towards him. She wondered vaguely if it was a position Sara could be fired from, decided she really didn't want to think about that.

Sara sipped innocently at her coffee, then said, "I have opinions."

"So I see," Cora replied drily. "Maybe you should talk to Lexi about that too?"

Sara lowered her mug and stood tall, shoulders thrown back, chest puffed out, brow furrowed as she regarded Cora. "You think Leonidas could have held off the Persians at Thermopylae without coffee?" She challenged.

Cora blinked in surprise. _What_ …? "I, uh... Don't think they had coffee..."

Sara waved off the comment with a sharp flick of her free hand. "You think Boudica could have taken on the might of Rome without coffee?"

"Um..." Cora shifted her weight awkwardly, one eyebrow climbing slowly towards her hairline. Had Sara gone mad...?

"You think Grissom went through the Charon relay without coffee?" Sara clearly hadn't finished.

Cora shook her head, looking exasperated. "Ryder-"

"You think I'm being serious?" Sara interrupted and flashed a wicked smirk. Cora gave the mother of all eyerolls.

Of course, Sara was playing with her. "Sometimes I hate you," she shook her head in mock frustration.

Sara's lips quirked up on one side. "Only sometimes?" She asked playfully.

"I can only roll my eyes at you so much before I risk permanent damage." Cora folded her arms over her chest.

Sara laughed at that. "Okay, I'll stop, I don't want to risk breaking my favourite lieutenant!"

Cora fought a smile, instead fixing Sara with a severe look. "I'm your _only_ lieutenant."

Sara grinned. Cora twitched an eyebrow.

"You like coffee too much," Cora said after a pause.

"No such thing as too much!" Sara scoffed.

Cora shook her head and looked back down at her data pad. "There _really_ is…"

"Anyway, what were you going to tell me?" Sara said before _that_ senseless mock-argument could start. She gestured to the data pad in Cora's hand, lifting her mug to drink and watching the blonde over the rim.

Now it was Cora's turn to smirk. Karma was a beautiful thing, however small and insignificant. "Tann wants to talk to you."

Sara choked on her coffee.

* * *

 **A/N: so, I'm still alive! Life has been mental of late. Stand by for more Tempest shenanigans :)**


	5. Welcome to the Family

**A/N: Today I had a twitter conversation with Katy Townsend (Suvi) so that's it. My life is complete. XD**

 **As is usually the case, the majority of this was done during the wee hours of the morning courtesy of insomnia so blame any weird ramblings on that. The choices in conversations in Andromeda allow for different interpretations of the characters, so here is Sara acting cool while bricking it ;P**

* * *

The Scourge reached its blazing fingers out towards them as Kallo expertly dodged and wove the Tempest through the scorching threads at incredible speeds, attempting to stay well away from the grasping anomaly while simultaneously avoiding the sights of the kett fighter following behind them.

"Kallo..." Vetra urged nervously, gripping the console beside her to stay upright as their salarian pilot deftly guided them through a rapidly narrowing corridor of danger. The Scourge burned ever closer, destructive energy seeking out the Tempest as though it had a mind of its own, and the enemy fighter stubbornly kept pace with them, matching their movements as it sought to lock on and open fire. Sara glanced back over one shoulder, balanced at the Pathfinder controls with her feet spread wide. The whole crew had rushed onto the bridge to find out what was going on when the Tempest was hastily dropped out of FTL and came face to face with a kett dreadnought blocking their path. They had been addressed by the kett leader, or who she assumed was the leader, demanding to speak with the one who activated the Remnant. He could sense them on board. It was _her_ he could sense. Sara. She realized, with a chill, this being could sense her shared DNA with her father. And the kett hadn't seemed pleased. They had escaped, but kett fighters had followed them into the maze created by the lethal Scourge. Several had made fatal mistakes and crashed in the pursuit.

Her heart pounded in her chest, blood thrummed in her ears. If Kallo made one tiny mistake it was all over…

Sara faced front again, pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind as she stared out the window, and saw the Scourge was thinning out. She could see stars in the blackness beyond, and something else, something she couldn't quite make it out. Some looming shape in the dark.

The kett fighter slammed into a tendril of the Scourge behind them and exploded as the Tempest burst free, streaking out into the wide expanse of space. A planet hung before them in the distance, clouds swirling across its surface. It was a welcome sight after the chase. Potential safety.

Sara slowly released the breath she hadn't even realized she was holding.

"Yes!" Kallo punched the air triumphantly.

"Nice flying!" Sara congratulated him, holding out her fist for the salarian to bump. Kallo merely looked down at her knuckles, then up at her face, not understanding. "It's... Customary to bump fists when you do something cool," she explained, fist still hovering in mid-air.

"Oh..." Kallo didn't seem entirely sure but curled his fingers and carefully tapped his knuckles against Sara's.

She laughed at his caution, hand dropping to her side. "We'll work on it."

"Yeah, nice work, kid," Drack told Kallo, flashing him a toothy grin. Kallo gave him a nervous smile in return and twisted round to face forwards again. Suvi glanced sideways at the salarian, looking more than a little stunned that they had made it through the Scourge safely. She slumped back into her seat and tried to get her breathing under control. This was turning out to be quite different to working in the lab on the Nexus.

"What now?" Cora asked, appearing at Sara's shoulder. She was looking at the planet ahead of them as the Tempest drifted ever closer to it.

Gil answered that question for them. " _Ryder_!" His voice came over the ship intercom, tinny through the speakers, but unmistakably worried. " _We've got trouble down here, you need to find us a port_ _ **now**_!"

"Right, okay," Sara muttered, eyeing up the planet with Cora. "And, where are we?"

Suvi gave a faint agitated sigh, fingers flying over the screens and buttons of her console as she attempted to coax answers out of broken systems. She gave a tight shake of her head. "Sensors are damaged, but I _think_ we're at the vault's coordinates," she replied, looking up at Sara.

Cora's hazel eyes flicked to Sara's, asking a question. It was all up to the Pathfinder now.

Sara paused, meeting her gaze, then turned away from her. They knew nothing about the planet ahead of them, whether it was safe or hostile, or even held a port, but they had no choice…

"We need to make repairs," she replied, swiping a palm across the controls in front of her. "Gil, give it what you can. Kallo, get us down there."

"Right away, Pathfinder," Kallo answered, guiding them in.

* * *

As they broke the cloud cover and the planet surface finally became visible Sara felt her stomach sink. The ground was dark rock, craggy and sharp, rising into tall mountains and vast plains of harsh black, veined with glowing red in places that spilt out into pools and lakes of bubbling lava. Would they really find help here?

"Uh, multiple fighters inbound," Suvi informed them suddenly as a light blinking on her console grabbed her attention. "They're requesting a comm channel."

Outside Sara could see several strange looking ships, boxy and small, surrounding Tempest. They had come from _somewhere_ , perhaps there was help to be found here after all. Providing they weren't blasted out of the sky first.

As Cora's gaze slid the Pathfinders way, Sara adopted an air of quiet calm, hiding the butterflies fluttering about her chest with a sloped smile that seemed merely curious. Her crew was nervous, scared even. They had escaped the metaphorical frying pan only to be seemingly cast into the fire. She was the Pathfinder, she had to bolster their resolve.

"It's all right," she told them confidently, turning towards the Pathfinder console to open the comms channel between Tempest and the unknown pilots. Her tone was light and playful, nothing like how she really felt. "They haven't shot us down yet."

"Comforting…" Peebee remarked drily.

" _Tove jagalesh do_." Unknown voices in a strange accent and unheard language.

The crew exchanged anxious glances, mirroring each other's fears. The ship's computer, their omni-tools, nothing had this language stored, ready to translate. The disastrous first contact with the kett was fresh in their minds. Would this go the same way?

"Oh jeez..." Sara muttered, reaching up to rub the back of her neck.

" _Tove jagalesh do_!" The voice repeated forcefully.

Sara cleared her throat. "Um, hi," she started awkwardly. Would the pilot's translator work for basic? Did they even _have_ a translator? It didn't matter, she had to at least try. "Sorry to drop in like this, but I swear we're the galactic good guys." She could _feel_ the entire crew staring at her in incredulous silence. Cora, in particular, was burning a hole into the back of her skull with the weight of her glare. Sara carefully didn't look back. She had never seen a script to advise on how to proceed should first contact be convincing alien fighter pilots to not blow up her ship. Being chased by one alien race into the airspace of another hadn't been covered in the manual.

" _Efanola fahen an gasad regala_." She wasn't sure if that was a reply to her words, or just a comment to fellow pilots.

They heard laughter over the comms and a second pilot spoke, " _Efanola_..."

Sara shifted her weight, trying to work out whether or not she needed to be any more worried than she currently was. The pilots didn't _sound_ like they were being threatening, but that meant nothing.

"They're forcing us to land," Kallo said nervously, as the ships edged closer to the Tempest and he was forced to adjust course to avoid a collision.

"Then we land," Sara decided. It wasn't like they had a choice.

* * *

As the unknown ships guided them through unfamiliar skies Sara saw a splash of colour in the distance, an island of life amongst the inhospitable scenery. It was deep green and growing ever closer as they were corralled towards it, steep slopes emerald with vegetation rising up out of black rock.

"Would you look at that," she murmured. As they neared, she could make out flowing waterfalls and luscious green trees and bushes, and then individual structures, white buildings with blue canopies and wide windows. A paradise nestled amongst rocky crags.

They were led towards what appeared to be a busy port and Kallo brought them in to land as the crew clustered around the window, staring outside in wonder. Word had spread fast and a crowd was gathering just beyond the landing platform, watching the Tempest as the alien ships hovered in formation around it. Sara could just make out the details of this new people. They stood like humans, with two arms and two legs that were bowed like a quarian's, and their features seemed cat-like with slanted eyes arcing into a flattened nose. Their skin was tinted in shades of blue and purple. They appeared fairly non-threatening. She suspected they had gathered merely out of curiosity.

Sara took a deep breath as the Tempest engines powered down, tapping her fingers against her console, and lifted her eyes from the crowd to look out at what she could see of the incredibly beautiful planet. "We need in that vault…" This was exactly what they had come to Andromeda for, a planet like this. She just hoped its current inhabitants would be willing to share.

She turned on her heel and started across the bridge, "let's hope this first contact goes better than the last…"

Cora spluttered in alarm and Sara would have found it amusing had she not suddenly begun to feel incredibly sick with nerves. "You're not seriously going out there?!"

"Yes, I am," she replied. "And I'm going alone. First contact with the kett went atrociously-"

"That's because they're murdering bastards," Liam interrupted from his position across the bridge, leaning his shoulder against the wall with his arms folded across his chest. Sara shot him a look and he lifted his eyebrow in response, daring her to object.

"Okay, yes," she agreed. "So far these guys have shown a little more diplomacy. I don't want us all charging out the ship and freaking them out by making them think we're giving a show of force."

Cora sucked in a deep breath, let it out slowly and finally nodded her head. It was a good point. "Okay, I trust you," she said. "I just hope you know what you're doing."

"Of course I do," Sara scoffed, and hoped the lie wasn't as incredibly obvious as it seemed. No one in this damn galaxy knew what they were doing, they were all winging it. She turned to walk backwards so she could face her crew. "If this goes badly," she said before Cora could gather her thoughts and question her further, "and I get eaten alive, even if it's hilarious, please destroy the vids," she looked pointedly at Liam who gave his most angelic smile.

"That wouldn't be hilarious!" Suvi protested. She was visibly nervous about the situation. Sara shot her a playful wink, projecting a false bravado, and finally backed out the doors into the corridor outside.

Suvi shot Cora a terrified look, as though Cora could change the Pathfinder's mind. Cora simply shook her head. "Even Drack couldn't stop her," she said bitterly.

"Heh, I could," he growled with a grin. "Want me to get her back?"

"No, Drack," Peebee rolled her eyes.

* * *

Sara hurried through the ship feeling suddenly cold. She stuffed her hands into the front pocket of her hoody and shuddered. This was such a ridiculously stupid idea. She was safe on the ship, out there was an entire world of unknown aliens. What if they were worse than the kett? She hesitated in the cargo bay, shifting from foot to foot in front of the button that would open the doors. No, she had to go out there, had to try. They needed the vault. She pulled one hand free of her pocket and slapped the button before she could change her mind. The doors slid open, revealing a view of rough scuffed metal sloping downwards to new soil. Warm air flooded around her ankles; she could feel the temperature change even through the fabric of her trousers. She took a careful breath. SAM had assured her the air wasn't toxic but…It was always alarming testing that theory for the first time. When she didn't keel over backwards, she walked down onto the ramp and hesitated again halfway down, watching the gathered crowd of aliens stare up at her warily. No, that wasn't right. She was the alien here. They were watching her with what appeared to be the same nervous anticipation that she felt herself, no hostility, no threat. Maybe everything would be all right.

She flashed a warm smile and immediately stopped. What if they saw that as an act of aggression? She instead schooled her features into a carefully neutral mask. But what if that was seen as an aggressive expression too?!

 _I'm going to die..._

She took a deep breath, and tried to ignore the tremor in her hands, the way her heart raged against her ribs, and stepped forward.

* * *

Sara was going to get herself killed. No. Cora trusted her friend. Sara would do her best.

Or die trying.

That was the scary part.

She pushed her fingers back through her hair and huffed a breath out through her nose, pacing a trench in the bridge. There was nothing they could do now but wait for the outcome, whatever that may be.

She heard Suvi suck in a sharp breath and whipped around to look at the science officer, to find her stood staring out through the window at the platform below.

"Ohmygoodness," Suvi breathed in a rush, turquoise eyes glued on something outside as she brought her hands up to her mouth. "She's being escorted by armed guard!"

"A precaution, I'm sure," Cora replied, only just suppressing the urge to lunge across the bridge and look outside. She joined Suvi at the Pathfinder console at a much calmer pace than she wanted to and looked down. Liam, Vetra, Peebee and Drack had disappeared back into the depths of the Tempest now, to occupy themselves while they awaited Sara's return. It was just Kallo, Suvi and herself on the bridge thankfully, she dreaded to think how Drack would react to seeing Sara marched forward at gunpoint. Probably smash through the window to land outside and start a fight.

Cora could understand that; despite her cool appearance she wanted to do the same. She saw Sara walking amongst armed and armoured guards, her hands held in the air, and felt her heart clench. She should be down there with her friend.

"She'll be all right," Kallo told them, watching from his chair. Cora heard his throat click audibly as he swallowed hard, not even believing his own words. "She's Sara Ryder, human Pathfinder. She knows what she's doing."

Cora grit her teeth and held still. _No, she doesn't_ , she thought to herself. And it was the hardest thing she had ever done, staying up there in the safety of the Tempest while watching her best friend walk naively into the dragon's den.

* * *

Sara did not die. She did, however, seem to make an enemy of the fiercely proud and endlessly suspicious Efvra de Tershaav, leader of the angaran resistance against the kett. Or maybe frenemy? Either way, he seemed to seriously dislike her no matter how politely she spoke to him and answered his questions. In fact, she suspected the only reason she left Aya in one piece was because of the angaran Jaal ama Darav intervening. He stood beside her now at the base of the landing ramp beneath the Tempest, quietly staring up at the ship hanging over his head. Deep blue eyes studied the gleaming hull plating, expression unreadable. He had volunteered to be Efvra's eyes on board the Tempest as Sara travelled to Havarl and Voeld in search of the beloved Moshae Sjefa, the only one who knew of the Ayan vaults location.

"You're sure about this?" Sara asked him as the bay doors opened. Neither of them made any move to climb the ramp. Jaal said nothing as he carefully scrutinized his surroundings and Sara wondered if he had understood, or if he had even heard. She was about to ask again when he finally answered.

"I am sure," he spoke in soft measured tones, as though carefully selecting his words before saying them. His voice was deep, almost a purr, which was amusing considering his faintly feline features. He glanced sideways at Sara and gestured up the ramp. "Lead on."

Sara gave him a comforting smile, and then moved ahead, leading the charge up the ramp and back into the belly of the Tempest with her new crew member following behind.


	6. Earning Trust

Havarl had been designated a golden world; Habitat 3, a world of lush greenery and fresh water. Now it was completely overrun, choked by its jungles unprecedented growth as it mutated and swarmed across the planet surface. Ruined angaran cities and remtech fought against being consumed by the ever-spreading, ever-growing flora, and even the fauna hadn't escaped the insane growth patterns and hormonal changes caused by a malfunctioning vault.

Those same unsustainable mutations and patterns and changes would soon begin to stabilize after Sara had activated the vault, a feat that wouldn't have been possible without help from both the angaran sages of Mithrava, the sanctuary atop a remnant tower, and incredibly, after some persuading, the Roekaar commander Taavos.

Sara stood in the centre of her quarters aboard the Tempest feeling pretty good about a mission completed successfully. She tipped back her head and pushed her fingers through her long hair, scraping it back from her face. It was damp still, after her post-mission shower, but not noticeably so. She tied it back and smoothed a hand over the top of her head, making sure she looked presentable. She didn't want to give Evfra even a single piece of ammo to use against her. She would look the part of leader and she would earn his trust. With Jaal backing her up, Evfra would really have to be grasping at straws to deny her his aid.

"SAM, ask Jaal to meet me at the vidcon," she requested. "It's time to debrief Evfra."

" _Yes, Pathfinder_ ," SAM answered mildly.

Sara strode from her quarters and climbed the ladder outside, making her way through the ship towards the ramp that sloped up to the vidcon. She saw no one as she walked, the crew having dispersed to the showers or the galley after their latest mission. That was good. With no one in the tech suite it meant she had no witnesses to her potentially embarrassing conversation with Evfra. She knew that despite everything she had done, and despite Jaal's support, Efvra would find a multitude of ways to give her a tongue-lashing and, difficult though it would be, Sara knew she would just have to sit and take it without retaliating with her own brand of snark. Cora had sat her down often enough and drummed that into her. Sara had to learn when to keep her mouth shut to navigate through the politics of this bizarre new galaxy. She was the Pathfinder of an entire race of people. They were counting on her to sweeten up this prickly leader. No pressure.

Sara beat Jaal to the vidcon and queued the link while she waited for him. He didn't take long, she heard him climbing the ramp just minutes after she had arrived and turned to face him with a smile. Jaal's expression was unreadable, mainly because she wasn't yet used to deciphering angaran expressions, but she thought he seemed confident. That was optimistic, considering Evfra's thoughts on her during their first meeting. Hell, even Jaal had been frosty with her at first and he was a puppy compared with the resistance leader. She was, however, reporting a relatively successful mission.

"When you are ready, Pathfinder," Jaal said, halting just behind her so that he would be visible to Evfra just behind her shoulder.

"All right, opening the channel now," Sara said swiping her hand over the controls in front of her and connecting to Evfra.  
His image appeared in front of them rendered in translucent shades of blue in all its scowling glory.

"Commander," Sara said, nodding respectfully.

" _Pathfinder_ ," Evfra sighed, as though already exasperated by her mere presence. Sara desperately fought the urge to raise an eyebrow in response. Cora would be so proud of her… " _Jaal's been keeping me updated on your 'adventures', your... 'good deeds' on our behalf_." She could almost see the air quotes. He didn't want to acknowledge those good deeds. But she had rescued angaran scientists and saved the birthplace of the angara by reactivating Havarl's vault. Maybe he could ignore the former, but the latter...?

"I meant them," Sara replied earnestly. "I want you to know you can trust me and my people. We're not like the kett." She knew how hard it was for the angara to accept the multitude of new species that had just shown up on their doorstep considering the Hell the kett had dragged them through. The angara had been much more welcoming than any of the Milky Way residents would have been had the tables been turned, and she appreciated that, she really did, but they needed to get into that vault. She was desperate to prove they were nothing like the kett, that they could be trusted but…trust took time to build. Time she suspected they didn't have.

Evfra was quiet as he studied her. His eyes looked almost black in the holo, and it was disconcerting. She felt her muscles lock with the effort to keep from fidgeting. " _You went out of your way to free that science team. A selfless act_ ," Sara smiled and nodded. Her actions had worked, then. However, Evfra had more to say, " _but your true agenda is clear- to explore Aya's vault_ ," Sara's smile faltered. Did Evfra believe she would turn her back on him once she had what she needed? That could make things…difficult. " _Jaal says you want to help find the Moshae. Why should I let you_?"

Sara inhaled deeply through her nose, thinking fast to find a response that would convince Evfra to trust the Tempest and its crew. "It's true I want to see inside your vault," she replied carefully. "But I'm not just helping you because of that. I would have done the same even if there was no vault. I help people, that's my thing. Plus, I have a pretty good track record of getting shit done," she gave a faint smirk, the professional facade dropping to give way to the usual playful spark in her eyes.

Evfra grunted a sound of amusement and nodded his head once in approval. " _Keep your promises and little by little our bond might grow_ ," he told her. Then he became serious once more, " _we've managed to track the Moshae to a special kett facility on Voeld_."

Sara felt a flutter of excitement in her stomach. It wasn't quite an invitation on the mission, but it was a start at least. She fought to keep her features neutral and instead cocked her head to one side curiously. "Special?" She repeated.

" _These facilities are protected by a dynamic shield tech we haven't been able to crack. We're close, but it's ability to adapt outstrips the speed of our current processors_." She could hear the frustration in his voice. It seemed an impossible thing, to break through an unknown tech and into an enemy stronghold. But he refused to admit defeat.

" _ **Pathfinder**_ ," SAM broke in on their private channel, " _ **adding my processing to their program would no doubt make the difference**_."

Oh, Evfra was going to hate this... Sara cleared her throat. "Evfra, I can help," she offered in a carefully gentle tone. She knew he found her offers of aid to be condescending and arrogant. "Respectfully, you need me for this one." She gave him the most sincere look she could muster.

" _Respectfully_ ," Evfra spat the word back at her, " _the angara don't **need** anything from you. We take care of our own_." He shot her a look of disdain.

Sara grit her teeth and fought to keep her expression neutral. He was proud and stubborn, but surely she could make him understand. She realized, with a faint flicker of surprise, that she was much the same. She hated to accept help, even when she needed it. But even she was able to admit when she was wrong. When she needed something the other person had. Like, say…an AI capable of busting through an impenetrable shield network. "With the processing power of my AI I can guarantee the shield breach."

" _AI? Of course, that makes sense_ ," Evfra murmured, the wheels turning as he realized an AI was exactly what he needed.

"He's physically connected to me so I kind of need to come too," Sara said fairly.

Evfra looked at her, his gaze roving her face as he reassessed her. " _It was risky to be honest about your AI, and honesty makes you different from the kett_."

Sara arched one eyebrow, feeling a flicker of annoyance at that statement. "That's... Not the only difference..."

" _Hm_ ," Evfra grunted in response. Sara hoped it wasn't meant with quite as much scepticism as it sounded. " _You're welcome on the mission_."

She smiled warmly at him, trying to reign in her glee. "Thank you," she said appreciatively.

" _A team will meet you at our base on Voeld. They'll take you to the kett facility. Stay strong and clear. Goodbye_." Evfra cut the link and his image instantly disappeared.

"Bye..." Sara spoke to dead air, cutting the link on their end.

"So," Sara turned as Jaal finally spoke, "you've gained Evfra's trust. No easy feat." He looked pleased. Or, at least, Sara thought he looked pleased. The angara were very open with their emotions, unfortunately Sara had no clue how to read most of the cues.

"I still don't think he likes me," she smiled wryly. Evfra, however, made his feelings on her very obvious. She never seemed to get on with figures of authority. She was sure Cora could give her a hundred and one plus reasons why that was.

"That's just his way," Jaal cuffed her shoulder with the back of his hand. He definitely looked pleased. "Well done."

"So, now we just have to infiltrate the impenetrable kett facility and rescue the Moshae!" Sara said brightly, clapping her hands and rubbing them together eagerly. Evfra's trust felt like spun glass in her hands. One false step, one tiny mistake, could destroy it, but that was something she refused to let happen.

Jaal smiled at her, giving a low chuckle. "I think if anyone can do that, it's you," he told her honestly. He kept her gaze a beat longer, then nodded his head once and made his way down the ramp, back into the tech suite.

She watched him make his way into the tech lab, where he had apparently made himself at home surrounded by tools and electronics that he could tinker with. Across the room the door of the hydroponics lab whispered open and Cora stepped out, glancing up at the vidcon and catching Sara's eye.

"How'd it go?" She called up, pausing as Sara jogged down the ramp towards her.

"Well," the Pathfinder began with a grin. "We're not at war with the angara so I'd chalk it up as a win." She halted before Cora and crossed her arms over her chest, looking pleased with herself.

"Very funny..." Cora replied dryly, lifting one eyebrow. After the kett disaster she would be unlikely to find such jokes amusing for a while.

"Evfra has agreed to include us in a mission to infiltrate a kett facility on Voeld," Sara explained, expression somewhat serious though she still smiled. "That's where the Moshae is. We'll be getting her out, back to Aya. And then..."

"She'll take us to the vault," Cora finished with a grin. "Nice work, Pathfinder." Finally things seemed to be going their way.

Sara brushed off the praise with a shrug. "I'm pretty sure it's all those lectures in diplomacy you make me sit through that broke him down, rather than my wily charm."

Cora chuckled at that. "Yes, well. You can't sass _everybody_."

"I know," Sara sighed melodramatically. It was a conversation they had a lot, with Cora scolding her after almost _every_ conversation she had with Tann or Addison.

Cora gave a faint smirk as she regarded her friend. "And you're not _half_ as charming as you believe you are."

Sara heaved a world weary sigh. "You know, sometimes I wonder what it might be like to have a second in command who isn't rude to me..."

"You'd hate it," Cora replied decisively. Sara looked at her with one eyebrow raised. "If I didn't insult you every so often you wouldn't get to be snarky, and I know how much you love that."

"Aw, Cora, you _do_ care," Sara pressed both hands over her heart and gave her friend a wide grin.

Cora rolled her eyes and nudged Sara playfully. "Tell Kallo to plot a course to Voeld."

Sara sighed and dropped her hands from her chest to thumb hook her belt. "You know... Scott would hate Voeld."

"yeah, he hates being cold," Cora nodded, smiling faintly at Sara. Sara met her gaze, recognizing the look of barely concealed worry in Cora's hazel eyes. It was the same look she knew her own eyes held. The thought of Scott, still locked in cryostasis due to some _technical_ malfunction, made her feel sick. Her brother, her _twin_ , her partner in crime, alive but unconscious. And for how long?

"I know they say he's okay," she said, feeling her chest ache with his absence, "that they can wake him soon and we don't need to worry, but..."

"I know," Cora replied gently as Sara trailed off. "It's natural to worry." She knew how close the Ryder twins were. However much they infuriated each other, they also had an unshakable bond. Scott's current predicament must have been killing his sister. "He really is in the best place he can be right now."

"I know, but-"

"No buts," Cora interrupted. "He's being looked after by the best doctors the Initiative has to offer. Plus," she added with a teasing smile, "would you really want to listen to him grousing about how cold he is if you had to take him to an ice planet?" She arched one eyebrow, already knowing the answer.

Sara snorted. "Hell no." They both knew that, despite the comfortably warm temperatures their armour could keep them at in sub-zero environments, Scott would complain as though even the slightest snowfall would give him frostbite.

"I'll let the Bridge know we need to change course," Sara said, brushing a finger against the scar beneath her eye as she smiled at Cora, grateful for the distraction.

"You know you can just comm them, right?" Cora asked, watching Sara as she turned and walked away, out of the tech suite and towards the bridge.

"I know," Sara replied over one shoulder. But she wanted to deliver the message in person.

* * *

Sara strode onto the bridge with her hands stuffed into her hoody pocket and paused in the middle of the room as she always seemed to do, eyes flicking around the room.

"Pathfinder," Kallo greeted her, leaning out to the side of his chair to look at her. Sara nodded in acknowledgment and noticed a distinct lack of delightfully Scottish-accented greetings. She glanced towards Suvi's work Station and felt an inexplicable disappointment at seeing it empty.

"Suvi's on a break," Kallo said after noticing Sara looking. He watched her carefully for a moment, black eyes studying the now awkward expression on her face as she squirmed under his stare.

"That's fine," she said when the silence began to stretch.

Kallo grunted and turned back to his console, long fingers gliding over buttons Sara could only guess at the function of. "How can I help you, Pathfinder?" He prompted.

"Set course for Voeld," she answered, lifting her arm and typing on her omni tool. "These are the coordinates."

"Right away," Kallo said, feeding the information into his computer. "Will that be all?"

Sara lifted her eyes to meet his gaze again, finding him unreadable though she suspected he read her as easily as a neon billboard. What he saw in her though, she couldn't say and wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know. "Yes, thank you." she murmured, nodding once then turning on her heel and leaving the bridge.

She headed for her quarters to begin preparing for the mission to Voeld.


	7. Feelings are the opposite of logic

**A/N: So I have to admit, Sara taking up Peebee on her offer of zero G fun strikes me as something she'd do. They both need to blow off steam in a stressful environment. And then it occurred to me that they're pretty close to the bridge… Suvi and Kallo can probably hear the entire thing . whoops! So that inspired this. At first I wasn't sure if it worked considering how chill Suvi is, but then I figured everyone feels emotions, just some are better than others at hiding them. Surely even Suvi feels jealousy? So, here we are… :P**

* * *

Peebee. P. B. Suvi knew the name the asari gave was a nickname, based on her initials, but didn't know what the initials might stand for. It was short and fast and easy, and that suited the asari just fine; she didn't like to hang around too long and while she spoke a _lot_ she preferred to take shortcuts with words and phrases, her name being one of them. Peebee hadn't been with the crew long. Sara had found her on Eos, or Peebee had found them, Suvi wasn't sure which way round it was. Either way, Peebee had invited herself on board the Tempest and Sara had gone along with it.

Peebee was like no other asari Suvi had had the pleasure, or displeasure, of meeting. She was intelligent, yes, a scientist of sorts, enthusiastic about all things Remnant. But also, hyperactive and blunt, with commitment issues anyone could spot a mile off. And as if all that didn't mark her as different enough, she had that bizarre black stripe across her eyes like some kind of bandit mask.

Though, apparently, she was doing something right, because Suvi had been listening to Peebee and Sara getting off in the bridge escape pod for the last ten minutes. Sure, the Tempest engines mostly drowned it out, and the sealed doors muffled it, but Peebee's 'room' and the escape pod were only a couple of meters away from her across the bridge and she knew exactly what was going on in there.  
Kallo was projecting an air of professional obliviousness, though Suvi had seen him, from the corner of her eye, casting worried glances her way. He knew how she felt about Sara and knew that the current goings on was probably incredibly upsetting, even for the ever-calm Suvi Anwar. She cleared her throat on hearing a dull thud from the escape pod and a muffled 'ow' from Sara as she presumably crashed off a wall, and pushed herself out of her chair, tugging her mug from the top of the console in front of her and lifting her data pad. The mug had a magnetic base to keep it from tipping over if their flight hit turbulence which meant often Suvi left it stuck to walls and all sorts of surfaces and forgot about it. It had briefly travelled around Podromos stuck to the rear of the Nomad at one point, much to the amusement of Sara, who had brought it back to her with that infuriatingly attractive sloped grin and a mischievous gleam in her eyes, announcing it had survived a kett attack and advising Suvi take better care of it.

"I'm going to get myself some tea, want anything?" She asked Kallo, pausing just before the door of Peebee's room. She could hear them both laughing now.

"No, thank you." Kallo turned in his seat and smiled at her. She gave him a weak one in return and left the bridge, heading straight down the ladder outside for the galley.

She knew she shouldn't feel jealous. Sara had barely spoken to her socially since first meeting her, hadn't even sought Suvi out save to return the mug. Any conversation they did have was, regrettably, work related and usually only to fill the time as one of them made tea or coffee or waited for the microwave to finish nuking a meal. It didn't help that Suvi had no idea how to initiate a conversation with her and often sat in silence casting furtive glances the Pathfinder's way, admiring from afar. She thought she was subtle, but Kallo had figured her out ridiculously fast. Damn salarians and their STG training… He could probably read an asari commando like an open book, an awkward human scientist was no trouble.

The galley was, mercifully, empty. Suvi breathed a sigh of relief as she checked the water level in the kettle before flicking the switch on the side. As the water boiled she opened one of the cupboards and rummaged amongst the boxes and packets stuffed inside by the other crew members until she found the tin containing her tea leaves, pushed to the back. It was a treat she tried not to have too often. The tea was from Earth, from home, and couldn't be replaced once it was gone. She pulled off the lid and lifted the tin to her nose, breathing deep and closing her eyes, savouring the earthy scent. It had the usual calming effect on her, teasing out the faintest smile as she opened her eyes and put the tin down on the side. She spooned leaves into her tea strainer, then put the tin back into the cupboard, moving it to the back again behind everyone else's snacks and treats.

Tea made, she lifted her mug and carried it to the table, dropping herself into one of the chairs with a sigh. She would stay here with her tea and data pad until it was safe to return to the bridge. However long that might be. She shook her head and woke the data pad with a swipe of one finger. She was being utterly ridiculous and she knew it, which served only to irritate her more. But she was only human, a slave to the chemical reactions in her brain, illogical as they were. She had once been quite adept at masking her emotions. The things she had done, the decisions she'd had to make shortly after being brought out of cryo on the Nexus, had taught her how to numb herself until she no longer felt the guilt and crushing anxiety brought on by deciding who counted as essential staff, who deserved to return to consciousness, who stayed asleep, figuring out how long their resources would last if they couldn't find a world to settle, and who received those resources. She hoped to never be forced into such a situation ever again. It had felt like playing God…

Perhaps she could take lessons in compartmentalising her feelings from Cora, eternally in control of her emotions, as far as Suvi knew, thanks to her training with the asari huntresses. Or possibly Lexi could give her some- no. She shut down that thought with another shake of her head. Lexi would want to know why, would probe until she pinpointed the issue. And besides, it was just a thread of thought Suvi was following, not something she would seriously consider. A distraction to keep her from thinking about Sara and Peebee 'getting to know each other' in the escape pod.

"A terrible distraction," Suvi muttered to herself, dunking her tea strainer and watching the liquid in her mug grow darker. She took the strainer with its now soggy leaves over to the sink, cleaned out the mesh ball and left it on the draining board to dry. She returned to her chair and found her fingers had opened her document on soil samples as her mind wandered. With nothing else planned, she settled down to fill her mind with her previous discoveries, mug cradled between both hands, warming her skin through her uniform gloves.

All too soon (or so it felt…in reality she had been sat reading for a while, her tea was only just warm now) her quiet space was invaded. On board the Tempest, especially when in motion, it was almost impossible to find a place to bunker down for some alone time. The galley was never the place to hide out in, being the place most frequented by the crew. As the door panel slid open, Suvi lifted her eyes to see who had wandered in, and only just managed to stop herself pulling a dismayed face.

"Hey, what's up, doc?" Peebee shot her a grin as she swaggered over to the sink looking way too pleased with herself. Suvi felt a flicker of annoyance that, out of every space on the ship, Peebee had decided to bring her smug butt to the galley first to celebrate her conquest.

"The sky?" She replied drily and Peebee snorted, setting about making herself coffee.

"Good one," she said, though it really wasn't. Her tone, however, suggested she had honestly enjoyed the remark, leaving Suvi confused. "Tea again, doc?" Suvi glanced over at the question and saw Peebee flick her tea strainer with one finger.

"Yes," Suvi replied curtly. She never knew how to take Peebee. It might have been an honest question, but the asari sounded like she was teasing Suvi, and calling her 'doc' sounded like a taunt. Then again, everything Peebee said was a joke or a taunt. She seemed to project an air of utter idiocy but was, at times, very intelligent. She was the strangest asari Suvi had ever met.

Said asari glanced her way, one brow lifted, and Suvi realized Peebee had probably picked up on her irritation. Senseless irritation. She was supposed to be a scientist, cool and collected and _rational_ , and she was currently acting anything but. "Earth tea," she added with a faint smile, and lifted the mug to sip at it. Warm steam caressed her face, leaving her skin feeling faintly damp. She rubbed her sleeve against her cheeks to rid herself of the feeling.

"Earth tea?" Peebee repeated slowly, tipping her head curiously to one side.

"Yes, I... Brought it with me from home, one of my luxury items," Suvi explained, wondering just how much Peebee would ridicule her for that. It seemed silly now, to have chosen tea when she could have brought something else more useful but tea had always calmed her and she supposed that somewhere in the back of her mind it had occurred to her that the trip to Andromeda might not be all sunshine and daisies. So, Earth tea, _proper_ tea, unlike that bland synthetic rubbish the Initiative had stocked them with, made the list in place of other mementos.

She saw Peebee lift one eyebrow in amusement as the asari turned back to her Initiative brand instant coffee.  
"You brought it all this way?" Peebee asked, a hint of bemusement in her voice.

"I did," Suvi replied. It sounded crazy now, but she was glad she had made the decision.

"You _really_ like your tea, huh?" Peebee looked over her shoulder to grin at the redhead, and Suvi couldn't help but flash a faint smile in return, lifting her mug to sip again.

"I really do," she replied as Peebee turned from the counter, mug in hand, and crossed the short distance to the table. She hooked her ankle around the leg of the chair opposite Suvi, dragging it out and dropping down into it with all the grace of a drunk krogan. Somehow, she managed not to spill her coffee, placing the mug on the table in front of her as she brought up both legs onto the chair to sit cross-legged with her elbows leaning on her thighs.

"I prefer coffee," Peebee told her conversationally.

"You're like Ryder then," Suvi replied. "She's a big coffee drinker."

"Or, maybe she's like me!" Peebee said with a wide grin.

Suvi had a mouthful of tea to avoid answering that. Really, Peebee and Sara were nothing alike other than sharing a love of caffeine. Not that Peebee needed the caffeine. Ever.

Peebee's eyes flicked to Suvi's mug thoughtfully. "The angara are big tea drinkers, you know?"

"They are?" Suvi asked, setting her mug down on the table and watching Peebee almost suspiciously, wondering where this was going.

"Yes! Jaal told me," Peebee said eagerly, gesturing excitedly. "They boil these leaves to make it and he said it tastes sweet. You should ask him about it."

"I will, thanks," Suvi said and gave her a genuine smile. "So... what did you bring with you from home?"

"Oh, this and that," Peebee answered vaguely. Suvi wasn't entirely sure what she had been expecting. She knew Peebee wasn't one for disclosing information about herself, even something as potentially harmless as what luggage she had brought to Andromeda. "So, doc," Peebeen lifted her mug and slurped coffee loudly, "watcha working on for us now?"

"Hm?" Peebee nodded to the data pad on the table in front of Suvi. "Oh, I'm just going over a document I wrote on Heleus soil samples." She couldn't believe she had sent it to Sara... The memory made her cheeks feel warm with embarrassment. Of _course_ the Pathfinder wasn't interested in _soil_. What had she been thinking?!

Peebee, however, seemed curious. "Oh?"

"None of it's field work," Suvi explained hastily. "It's all second hand scans and sample sources sent back to the Nexus labs from Eos before... Things went wrong. It's my findings so far. I'll be doing a side by side analysis soon using new samples after the vault activation to look at the changes."

"Could you send it to me?" Peebee asked.

Suvi hesitated, frowning faintly. She had always assumed that, out of everyone on board, Cora would be most likely to discuss the science officer's work with her, considering Cora's love for plants, and yet her fellow human had never once raised the question. Now here was this crazy asari watching her hopefully. "Really?"

Peebee smiled brightly at her. "Sure! I'm always eager to learn a little more about our new home. Your field is different to my field. It'd be interesting!"

Suvi stared at her for several long seconds, trying to find the joke. But Peebee seemed genuinely curious. "Okay then," she smiled, happy to have found someone on the crew other than Kallo to talk to about her investigations and studies. "I'll send it later."

"I'll keep an eye out," Peebee winked at her. Suvi paused, unsure if it was a flirt or if Peebee just threw out winks the way regular people nodded affirmation, so just smiled and glanced down at her data pad. "Anyway!" Peebee rapped a beat on the table top with her fingers and dropped her feet to the floor. "I gotta go! There are discoveries to be made. I have a tonne of remtech scans to go through." She snatched up her mug and sauntered towards the door.

"Okay, see you later," Suvi replied vaguely, having already been reclaimed by her reading.

"Later, 'gator."

Suvi blinked and looked up at the Earth saying, and was met with a wide grin and another playful wink from Peebee. The asari paused on the threshold, then looked back at Suvi, propping one hand on her hip and cocking her head to one side. "You're not in here escaping 'cause me and Ryder were too loud, right?" Usually Peebee wouldn't care, but this time it mattered, sort of. Not much, but enough to ask. She wasn't sure why. Maybe the Tempest crew were _growing_ on her. Goddess, she had to do something about that STAT.

Suvi flushed "N-no!" She said quickly. "I just... Needed a break. From all the numbers." If Peebee saw through the lie, she gave no sign of it. Then, to keep up the charade, Suvi asked casually, "too loud doing what?"

Peebee smirked at her and answered bluntly, "each other."

Suvi felt herself blush. "Um. Right."

Peebee turned away again and the galley doors parted for her. "Uh, Peebee?" Suvi called and saw Peebee halt once more in the doorway. She looked back at the redhead curiously. "Maybe you could send me some of your write ups on the remtech?"

Peebees face broke out into a wide grin, looking childishly enthusiastic. "Sure!" She said, nodding once and then disappearing. The door slid shut behind her and Suvi was alone once more.

Perhaps Peebee wasn't so bad after all, despite everything about her and now this…relationship or whatever it was she had with Sara. Lord, if they started dating Suvi didn't think she could cope, she would have to seal herself up on the bridge away from everyone… She was still mulling that thought over when Drack stomped through the door, heading straight for the cupboards that contained their rations.

He grunted, "kid." It was something Suvi had recently realized was actually his polite greeting, though it usually sounded contemptuous whenever he said it.

The krogan, as a race, had always left Suvi slightly on edge. Too unpredictable, too volatile. Plus, she felt it was always sensible to be somewhat wary of a being that could disembowel her without breaking a sweat. Drack had made her feel anxious on first meeting him. He had the usual krogan qualities but underneath it all he was... Well, kind wasn't usually a word she would associate with a krogan but there it was. He looked out for the crew with an almost grandfatherly affection, albeit a harsh and rather gruff one.

Suvi murmured a greeting and he swung his great head round to face her, immediately knowing she was out of sorts. She was usually so chirpy. "Hey, what's wrong, kid?"

Suvi looked up at him, at the heavy bone plating, the deep scars, the weathered face and impossibly ancient eyes. At the way he had gone still to watch her, to give her his undivided attention while holding several energy bars in his claws. She had known him only a short time, and he was krogan, and yet she knew she could confide in him. At least partly anyway.

She pulled a face and shook her head. "My brain..." She replied, tapping a finger against her temple. She felt jealous of the connection Peebee and Sara had found, despite knowing how stupid and irrational that was. There was nothing to be jealous _of_. Except for Peebee having something out of Suvi's reach. Feelings were ridiculous.

Drack laughed, a deep gravelly sound that usually made her smile but had no such effect on her now. "Nothing wrong with _your_ brain!"

"My heart then," Suvi replied gloomily. _I have a crush on my boss_. She fought back a cringe.

Drack cocked his head to one side, looking her over. "You should see Lexi about that." She didn't look unwell, but you never could tell with the squishies. They were so fragile...

Suvi shook her head, frowning. "No, nothing like that, more like…" She gestured with one hand in front of herself, searching for the word. "Feelings…" She pulled a face. She sounded like a lovesick teenager. This was so incredibly embarrassing. She had degrees in astrophysics and molecular biology, for Chrissakes!

Drack snorted; an explosive sound coming from a krogan. "Hope you don't expect relationship advice from me."

This time Suvi did smile. "Thank you, but no."

Drack grunted and glanced at the closed door, thinking it through. Peebee had just left and now Suvi was moping. "You like Peebee?" He asked her bluntly, turning his gaze back to the scot.

Before she could stop herself, Suvi had scrunched up her nose and blurted, "gosh, no!"

Drack burst out laughing, tossed back his head and just cackled. Suvi was horrified. "I- I didn't mean-!" She stammered. Drack waved her off and gave her a toothy grin.

"I didn't think she was your type," he admitted.

Suvi hesitated before asking warily, "how do you know what my type is?"

"I don't," Drack shrugged his shoulders. "I guessed." He jerked his chin her way, "you're too quiet to go for someone like Peebee."

Suvi smiled faintly. She wasn't too quiet to fall for Sara, who could be just as wild and unpredictable as Peebee when the mood took her. "I might surprise you," she told him playfully, attempting to look and sound rebellious. She wasn't entirely sure she pulled it off.

Drack chuckled while tearing the foil from one of his energy bars in one smooth motion. "Live as long as I have, and nothing is surprising anymore."

"That just means I'll have to try really hard," Suvi said.

"You do that," Drack grinned at her and started crunching happily at his snack.

Suvi smiled back at him, then lifted her mug and data pad. "I need to get back to the bridge," she said, sounding regretful as she climbed to her feet. Drack grunted and moved out of the way so she could pass him, starting on a second energy bar. "Thanks for talking," she said over her shoulder, stepping out into the corridor and crashing straight into the very solid form of someone else.

"Ow, hi," Sara grabbed both of the redhead's upper arms to steady her. The galley door slid shut behind Suvi, leaving her alone in the corridor with Sara.

"OhLordsorry!" Suvi gasped, checking her tea to make sure none had spilled. Thankfully the mug was half empty anyway. Sara smiled and stepped back, hands dropping to her sides as Suvi looked back up at her. Her arms felt warm where Sara had touched her and already she missed the contact. She carefully ignored the part of her brain insisting she was acting like a lovesick teenager.

"No problem," Sara replied. She had a towel thrown over one shoulder, apparently heading for the showers after her…exertions. Suvi cleared her throat awkwardly and swiftly averted her gaze. She was pretty sure Sara had no clue that she and Kallo knew what had gone on inside Peebee's room and Suvi wasn't about to let on that she knew, but she was sure it was obvious in the heat in her cheeks and the sudden inability to maintain eye contact. Catching people having sex, even if it was just _hearing_ it, was so damn embarrassing. For her, anyway. And what didn't help was that Suvi maybekindasorta wanted to be the one doing that with Sara.

"So, I'm just going to…" Suvi motioned to the ladder outside the Patherfinder quarters and shuffled past Sara.

"Sure," Sara said, turning with Suvi. "Need a hand?"

"Nuh-uh," Suvi said, holding her data pad in her teeth and awkwardly climbing the ladder while trying to keep her tea from spilling with one hand. "'ank'."

"You're welcome," Sara chuckled and headed into the bathroom.

* * *

Kallo tore his gaze from his console and looked back as he heard the door open. He hopped anxiously to his feet as he saw Suvi coming back, sipping at her tea and looking flustered.

"Better?" He asked worriedly.

"I don't think I'll ever unhear what I heard coming from Peebee's room," she announced, dropping into her chair and carefully placing her mug and data pad on top of her console.

"Oh, um…" Kallo nodded, not sure how to respond to that. He returned to his own chair but kept his gaze on Suvi. He found humans hard to read, but he had been friends with Suvi a while. She seemed more awkward than anything now. "I can sympathise with that."

Suvi glanced over at him to find him looking at her, his large black eyes watching her for any hint of distress. She gave him a small grin. Of course, he could sympathise, his salarian mind would unfortunately store the memory of Sara and Peebee having happyfuntimes for instant playback, and it would never wear down or be forgotten. Kallo smiled back at her and Suvi started to laugh, leaning her head back against her chair. The whole thing was utterly ridiculous. "How could they _not_ realize we would hear?!"

"I know," Kallo sighed, shaking his head in dismay. "Armour plating isn't always sound proof. They'd know that if they paid any attention to the ship specs."

"And they're both so _loud_!" Suvi added. She knew all about being caught up in the moment, but really? That had just been obnoxious.

"Please stop talking about it," Kallo moaned, but she could hear the humour in his voice.

"Sorry, Kallo," Suvi said, reaching for her tea and giggling into her mug. "I'll change the subject. Um…" She cast about for something to say.

Kallo nodded vigorously, "yes, tell me more about those rock scans you have."

Suvi looked sideways at him and grinned, "gladly…"


	8. Better sorry than safe

**A/N: just FYI, I skip a massive chunk of game plot that takes place in the middle of this because it's irrelevant, soz :P**

 **Also, glad to see folks are still reading these XD I write them for myself- Andromeda is my happy place -but it's nice to know folks are enjoying them :)**

* * *

Bullets whined overhead, cracking into the sloping wall of ice behind Peebee and Cora as they crouched together behind a low wall bordering a small kett shuttle base atop a cliff on Voeld. The kett rounds carved chips of ice from the slope that showered over the two women. Several feet away, Sara knelt concealed amongst a pile of crates, head tilted as she peered through the scope of her sniper at the battle raging across the ground at the entrance to the base. Kett supplies and vehicles burned, turning snow to slush, and every kett stationed there seemed to be fighting off the angaran resistance. The distraction was well underway.

"Ryder, you bring us to the nicest places," Peebee sighed dreamily, checking over her pistol with her shoulders to the wall as she waited for a break in the kett fire so she could retaliate.

"I like to treat my crew," Sara played along with a grin hidden behind her helmet. She was tracking the progress of a kett chosen across the snow as he sprinted from cover to cover towards a group of angaran resistance fighters huddled behind the burning remains of a kett land vehicle. "How do you like your new coat?"

"Love it!" Peebee exclaimed. The bullets shredding the ice behind them halted and she peered over the wall, firing off a few rounds from her pistol as a wraith leaped over a stack of crates just ahead of them. She hunkered down again as the wraith flopped to the ground, uttering a pathetic gurgle before going silent and still. She brushed ice shards from the shoulders of a thick leather jacket lined with warm fur, a gift donated by an angaran resistance pilot who had been horrified that the crazy asari thought a thin coat would do for the freezing temperatures of Voeld. It was slightly too big, but Peebee seemed to think that only improved its qualities.

"Only the best for you!" Sara quipped.

"You two realize you're not actually on a date, right?" Cora asked uncertainly, looking between them both. They seemed to have forgotten they were in the middle of a life-or-death situation.

"Of course!" Sara gave a half laugh, adjusting her grip on her sniper, finger brushing the trigger, as the chosen she was watching broke cover once more. Her crosshairs settled over his head, tracked his course across the snow and ice. "Down you go," she murmured, squeezing the trigger. There was a deafening crack and green sprayed from the kett's skull as he crumpled limply to one side.

"Nice shot," Cora complimented her as Sara began lining up another.

" _Pathfinder Ryder, charges are set_ ," an angaran informed her over comms. Sara heard it at her ear, relayed through a tiny speaker inside her helmet.

She pulled her rifle back and sat with her shoulders to the crates as Peebee and Cora started forwards, putting pressure on the kett forces to push them away from the angaran soldiers.

"Brilliant," Sara replied. "Get your guys out of there and meet up with us. We need to be heading for the facility when those charges blow."

The plan was simple enough. Destroy the shuttles at the kett bases most likely to respond to an attack on the main facility to effectively strand them and stop them backing up their forces within the facility while Sara and the angara rescued the Moshae. The Tempest team was with one group of angara causing a scene at the entrance to the base so a second group could set up explosives and destroy the kett craft on the other side of the building. Several miles away another team, led by Jaal, was doing the same thing at another base. So far, everything had gone according to plan.

" _No can do_ ," came the grave reply, and Sara bit back a sigh. Of course there was a hiccup... " _We have kett heading this way. They'll disable the bombs if we leave_."

"We're on our way," Sara said, holstering her sniper over her shoulder and reaching for her assault rifle. "Sit tight."

Cora looked back towards Sara, hazel eyes questioning behind her tinted faceplate. She had heard Sara's half of the conversation and sensed a problem.

"We need to cross the base," Sara explained. "Bombers need our help."

Cora glanced over the battle raging around them, the huntress in her calculating the outcome of a hundred different scenarios at once. "We can skirt the fight using the walkways and move inside. It should be a clean run from there."

Sara nodded, swapping sniper for assault rifle and preparing to move out. "Don't engage unless you're seen, we don't want to draw unnecessary attention," she said.

"You hear that, Peebee?" Cora taunted her asari colleague.

"I am not above shooting you in the ass, Harper," Peebee called back without looking as she eyed up the pathway they would be taking.

Cora raised her eyebrows and glanced the Pathfinder's way.

"On that note, Peebee can lead," Sara ordered, eager to avoid arguments. "We'll follow you. And look sharp, we need those shuttles destroyed. There'll be enough kett in that facility without them scrambling reinforcements."

"Yes, ma'am!" Peebee replied and darted out across the snow. They moved forwards, keeping low and using as much cover as they could to avoid detection. They climbed a metal ramp and hurried across a platform cleared of snow and ice thanks to the ring of heat lamps around its perimeter towards the base entrance. As they dashed towards the open doorway that lead inside a kett stepped out from behind the crates it had been using as cover and shouldered its weapon, preparing to open fire. Without breaking stride Cora caught him in a powerful biotic lift and sent his body arcing through the air. The three women didn't pause to see where he landed as they hurried inside, feeling the temperature rise with each step. Sara saw the thin layer of frost coating her metal gauntlets began to melt and bead into water droplets.

"They must have figured out we're here for their shuttles and broke off from the fight to protect them," Cora spoke as they jogged along a corridor. Inside the base seemed deserted, all available kett outside dealing with the resistance. Alarms still wailed throughout the building, calling all personnel to arms.

"Well, they had to start using their brains at some point," Peebee commented, glancing into rooms as they passed, making sure they were empty to avoid any potentially fatal surprises.

"They could have waited until after we crippled them," Sara grumbled, AR held across her body, muscles tensed and ready for action.

"Hey, who wants their operations to run smoothly?" Cora asked, her stance deceptively relaxed as she hurried after her companions. "This kind of thing keeps you on your toes. As a huntress-"

"This way!" Peebee interrupted loudly, rushing through a doorway and leading them down a staircase.

Cora narrowed her eyes. "How do you know...?" She asked suspiciously, fairly certain Peebee was about to lead them on a wild goose chase through the base.

"I don't, I just guessed," Peebee admitted, now leading the way along another corridor. "But we need to go down to get onto the airfield, so..."

Cora looked sideways at Sara who simply shrugged and followed the asari. They both had to admit it was a fair point.

Apparently, Peebee had guessed right as moments later they found themselves facing a wide doorway jammed open through which they could see rows of shuttles crouched like a bizarre flock of dark metal birds spread across a flat sheet of ice and snow. The ice dropped off into a steep cliff overlooking a vast sea of white that stretched towards the dark smudge of a mountain range in the distance. Dotted across the ice plains below were patches of darkness that Sara knew were further kett structures and small bases. From here the kett craft could carry dozens of troops and drop them all over Voeld. Destroying those vehicles wouldn't just make their mission at the main facility easier, it would aid the angaran resistance in the long run too.

A firefight raged between the shuttles and the base, angaran fighters bunkered down behind the shuttles while around a dozen kett spread out between them and the base, taking up positions behind crates and portable shield walls, pushing ever closer to the angara.

Sara wordlessly motioned to Peebee and Cora, indicating flanking positions for them to take behind the kett. They would use the element of surprise to gain the upper hand, attacking the kett from behind while the angara fought from ahead of them.

As Peebee and Cora moved into place, Sara lay down on her stomach in the doorway, releasing her sniper and assault rifles from their magnetic harnesses over her shoulders, setting down the AR beside herself within easy reach. She would likely only get off a couple of sniper rounds before the kett began to turn her way. Her position was crude, with no support for her rifle and little time to pick her targets and make her shots. But she could make it work. She had to. Those bombs had to detonate.

Sara peered through her scope, surveying the scene ahead. The base was at the top of a slight slope before it evened out into flat land, affording her some height over the battlefield at least. She saw no angaran casualties and felt a flicker of relief, but it wouldn't be long before the kett overpowered the angara through sheer numbers. She marked several targets at the back of the kett group, took a breath, held it, and fired. Headshot. As the body fell she readjusted her aim, paused and fired. A second body crumpled, a puppet with cut strings. As she sighted on a third target the kett began to turn her way, sending retaliatory fire blindly towards the building. Her shot went wide. She dropped the sniper and rolled to one side, grabbing her AR and using the scant cover provided by the doorway to climb to her feet. Bullets raked the floor where she had been laying and then she heard the muffled boom of a biotic explosion and knew Peebee and Cora had sprung into action. She risked a glance around the doorway and was pleased to see absolute pandemonium had broken out amongst the kett as, with the attack coming from multiple directions, they had no clue which way to turn. They scattered, trying to find better cover, to regroup and reassess the battlefield. Sara scooped up her sniper and returned it to its position over her left shoulder blade, then sprinted down the slope to enter the fray.

She saw Cora streak forwards wreathed in rippling blue light. She crashed into a kett soldier twice her size and released the biotic charge she had built to send him sprawling across ice. As she finished him off with two rounds from her pistol Sara noticed a faint ripple in the air at her friend's feet. Panic seized her heart as she recognized the warning sign just before the wraith materialized.

She managed only a strangled shout of, "Cora!"

Cora whirled towards the shout but it was too late, the wraith clamped it's jaws around her lower leg and jerked hard. Cora went down with a yelp of pain. She landed on her back, helmet striking the ice with a crack that stunned her. Her pistol fell from her hand and clattered uselessly away, spinning across ice as biotic barrier and shields broke under the force of vice-like jaws.

The kett were coming together, recovering from the surprise attack. The angara were doing their best to keep their enemy occupied but Sara saw the kett homing in on Cora, now the weakest link. She bolted, sprinting forwards out across open ground in clear view of everyone. Stupid, she knew it was stupid, but in that moment the only thing that truly mattered was saving Cora.

Cora, who had lost her gun and didn't have the space to use a biotic attack for fear of damaging her leg further. Instead she summoned a second barrier to absorb some of the force from the wraith's powerful jaws while lashing out with the heel of her other foot, slamming it repeatedly into heavy bone plating. The wraith snarled and bit down harder.

Cora tipped her head back and let out an agonized shout, vision going dark at the edges as pain raced the length of her leg and up into her chest, white hot and all consuming. Fangs needled through armour, finding flesh and biting deep, keeping her immobile.

Sara ducked under a hail of bullets, running as fast as she could. She tripped under the impact of her shields absorbing a second round of shots, fell, rolled, came back up running. Her helmet flashed an icon on her faceplate, alarms warning that her shields were down.

"PEEBEE!" She screamed, spraying fire from her auto rifle at the approaching kett, forcing them back into cover as the angaran forces moved to intercept them. She threw herself into a slide to close the distance between Cora and herself, dropped her gun and gripped the upper and lower jaws of the creature pinning her friend and jerked her arms apart. There was a loud crack and the wraith howled. She forced it down into the snow with one hand as it writhed against the ground, claws scrabbling for purchase against ice. She called up her omni-blade with the other hand and punched down. The beast went still.

Peebee appeared beside her, using a biotic charge to cross the battlefield. She dropped to a crouch beside the two humans and threw up a biotic barrier around the three of them. A sphere of blue rippling energy shimmered into life.

"You fucking fool," Cora bit out through chattering teeth. She looked absolutely furious with Sara as the Pathfinder wrenched her blade free and shoved the corpse aside. "They could have killed you."

Sara ignored her and all but ripped the utility belt off her waist in her efforts to get at the spare medigel sachets she was carrying. Cora grit her teeth and lifted her shoulders enough to look down at her leg. It was a mess of blood and torn armour and fabric. She closed her eyes and let her head drop back.

She muttered a, "fuck." She would have to sit out the mission, get medical aid… Goddammit. She was already feeling pleasantly numb from her armours own medigel stores doing their part. The pain had receded to a dull throbbing.

"The resistance are dealing with the remaining kett," Peebee informed them over her shoulder.

"Keep that barrier up," Sara ordered, tearing open one of the medigel sachets.

Peebee nodded and faced front again. "Yes, ma'am."

"You listening?" Cora snapped at Sara.

"I think you're going into shock," Sara told her, spreading medigel over the ragged wound the wraith had ripped into Cora's leg. Cora barely felt it. Everything was starting to feel slightly fuzzy. She ran her tongue over her teeth, her mouth feeling full of feathers. She dimly recalled there was such a thing as _too_ much medigel and began to rapidly blink to stay focussed.

"A wraith tried to rip her leg off, of course she's in shock," Peebee said sarcastically.

Cora simply glowered. "Don't be so dramatic." Peebee shot her a smirk, hearing the slur in Cora's voice. Cora glared harder.

"Lexi will fix you up," Sara said, more to reassure herself than Cora as she scrubbed her gauntlets in snow, turning it crimson with her friend's blood. She knew as a leader she should be the very essence of cool and collected at all times, but that was somewhat difficult when it was her best friend in danger. She took a deep breath to steady herself.

"I'm fine," Cora insisted, and struggled upright into a sitting position. Her limbs felt clumsy, disobeying simple commands. It was infuriating and she knew the others could see it.

"No, stop, I'm calling for an extraction," Sara pressed a palm to Cora's chest and forced her back down. Evfra was going to gut her…That was, if Cora didn't get there first judging by the expression on the blonde's face.

"Tempest can't land here," Cora protested.

"They'll give us coordinates," Sara replied firmly, swiping on her omni-tool gauntlet.

"There's no time!" Cora countered, raising herself up on her elbows.

"We'll figure it out," Sara waved a hand to cut off Cora's protest as she connected to the bridge of the Tempest.

Cora ignored the motion, "I'll take the Nomad. I can drive back while you carry on with the mission!"

"You're in no state to be driving anywhere," Peebee told Cora without looking as Sara turned away to speak into her radio. "Ooh, wait, I can drive you!"

"No way, I'll arrive in a worse state than I am now with you behind the wheel," Cora instantly shut down that idea. But it was true, she couldn't drive herself in her current condition.

Peebee glanced over her shoulder at Cora, "I know you're only saying that because you're delirious with blood loss."

"I'm fine," Cora said stiffly. She was certain the wound looked worse than it was. Her barrier had taken the brunt of the attack, her armour some more, and sure there was a lot of blood and it _did_ look like Hell but… But she needed help. She hated to need help.

Peebee dropped her barrier as she saw the resistance fighters heading their way and stood to meet them, stuffing her hands into her jacket pockets. The kett had been dealt with.

Sara turned back to Cora, reaching for her shoulder and squeezing it comfortingly. "Tempest is heading to a pick-up point nearby. We'll get you in the Nomad and drive you out."

A loud boom sounded in the distance, like a canon blast, echoing through the frozen air. "That was the second team blowing the shuttles," Cora stated needlessly. Sara could see the plume of black smoke boiling skywards already in the distance. "You need to rendezvous with them and get them into that facility. Don't you _dare_ compromise the mission because of me."

"Pathfinder, I can take your wounded," one of the angara offered, understanding the dilemma. The resistance fighters fanned out around them. Cora looked away to avoid noting the sympathy in their gazes. "She's well enough to explain the controls of your Nomad. Your ship can take me back to Techiix," the one who had spoken continued.

Sara stared at him for a good few seconds, then looked down at Cora and sighed. Considering the circumstances it was the best option. "Fine. Okay, come on. Set those charges to blow and let's get out of here. We have a moshae to rescue."

* * *

The mission was a success. The moshae was saved, the Cardinal was dead, and Sara had managed to rescue countless more angara from the clutches of the kett. They had learned what truly went on that facility, much to the heartbreak of Jaal. Discovering the reason kett abducted angara- to 'exalt' them, mutate them and turn them into kett- had been highly traumatic for him. He had been frantic and emotional at the moshae's bedside in the medbay as Sara spoke with her. Even in her fragile state, moshae Sjefer was more than happy to give Sara a tongue-lashing, angry that Sara had left the kett facility still standing in favour of rescuing the captured angara, despite promises of angaran pilots returning at a later date to bomb the facility. She was a force to be reckoned with, but had ultimately agreed to take Sara to the vault on Aya. As soon as the conversation was over Jaal left the medbay and sealed himself away in the tech lab to process the events of the past day. Lexi had promised Sara she would speak with him as soon as he was ready.

Lexi was now busy in the med bay looking after moshae Sjefer, who was understandably in need of medical aid after her ordeal.

Sara went in search of Cora. She knew Cora would still be angry with her, knew her actions during the firefight had been rash but... Cora was alive because of those actions.

Sara found Cora exactly where she had expected to: the bio lab, surrounded by her troughs of dirt and the spindly green shoots that would one day grow tall and strong, into plants with names Sara had since forgotten. Cora was sat in a chair piled high with pillows, her injured leg swathed in bandages and propped up on an empty crate. Her hazel eyes blazed as Sara entered.

"Hey..." The Pathfinder gave a tentative smile. Cora said nothing. Sara found a second crate and dragged it over to sit beside her. Sara continued, trying to fill the silence, "Lexi said she flushed the wound and patched you up. She said you might be a bit high and I shouldn't disturb you..." A potent cocktail of medigel, antibiotics and painkillers, enough to floor any human, was making its heady way through Cora's system. But Cora wasn't just any human and had spent her time on board the Tempest fighting through the fog of drugs to regain full cognitive function. She glared at Sara with a burning intensity that made the Pathfinder's gaze dart away nervously.

"Do I look high?" She demanded.

Sara's eyes flicked back towards her friend's. "No, no you look perfectly capable of murdering me and getting away with it..." she admitted quietly.

Sara didn't think she had ever seen Cora quite so angry. She was much more used to seeing Cora turn statue-still, expression blank, when annoyed. Now though her eyes burned furiously and her jaw was tight. She radiated menace.

"Um... You doing okay?" Sara asked awkwardly, already plotting an escape route. Cora most definitely was not okay.

"What you did?" Cora said, her tone harsh and clipped. "It was stupid. Reckless."

Sara rolled her eyes. Right, a Lexi-grade lecture was incoming about taking care of herself. The fact that she hadn't had one from Lexi herself suggested Cora hadn't told the asari doctor just how stupid Sara had been in coming to her aid. For that she had to thank her friend. At least she would only be receiving _one_ lecture that day. "I don't care. I'm not leaving you to be a wraith's chew toy, idiot. Not ever. Protocol and battle-sense be damned."

"You're the Pathfinder," Cora hissed, "you're more important than me."

Sara glared and stubbornly insisted, "no." The thought of losing Cora, as well as her father and technically Scott, filled her with dread. She and Cora had bonded fast while training for the Pathfinder team. Cora was as much a sister as she was a best friend.

"Sara!" Cora cried in exasperation.

"I'm not leaving my best friend to be killed by those bastards just because I _might_ be killed getting to her. That will never be an option," Sara folded her arms and scowled at the floor. "Besides, being the Pathfinder is no excuse to back out of a dangerous situation," she gestured with one hand to Cora. "You trained for the position, you'd become Pathfinder if anything happened to me."

"If? _If_?! The way you act _if_ has become _when_!" Cora raised her voice, fingers gripping the arms of her chair hard enough to turn her knuckles white. "You're not expendable just because I get a promotion when you die. Forget about the job and _think_. This crew, this team? We are a _family_. How do you think it'll affect us if you get yourself killed pulling some crazy stunt?"

Sara hesitated, because Cora's words were uncannily similar to something Lexi had said to her once.

The fire in Cora's eyes died and her expression softened. She released her death-grip on the chair, hands falling into her lap as she caught Sara's gaze and held it. Those brilliant blues were troubled, and Cora knew she had started to get through to the Pathfinder. "You are strong and you are skilled but one day your luck will run out if you keep cheating death," she spoke quietly now, pleading. "I don't want to be there when that happens so _please_ , think about what you're doing."

Sara bit her lower lip, feeling a hard lump of emotion in her throat, and then she lunged across the gap between them and threw her arms around her friend, burying her face in Cora's neck and hugging her tight. Cora was taken aback.

"Um, not the reaction I expected," she admitted, putting her arms around Sara and rubbing her back comfortingly.

"I'm an idiot," Sara mumbled into her collar. "I do stupid stuff just to prove I can. I promise I'll hold back on tempting fate but... There are certain situations that may call for breaking that promise."

"Well," Cora said, leaning back to look at her with a fond smile, "I'll try not to put you in that position again."

Sara gave her a small smile in response, hunching down with her forearms on her thighs. And then one corner of her mouth twitched up into the usual smirk, mischief dancing in her eyes. "It was pretty hot though, right? Me swooping in all heroically to save the day..."

Cora snorted. "You wish."

Sara gave a half laugh, watching her a moment before saying, "you know you're part of this family too? Losing you would tear us apart just as much as losing me through some epically stupid stunt."

Cora reached out and closed a hand over Sara's wrist. "No one is going anywhere," she promised.

Sara smiled faintly, giving Cora's hand an appreciative squeeze. "Well, you definitely aren't," she sniggered, looking down at Cora's leg. It was wrapped knee to ankle in thick white bandages. "Was that really necessary?"

"Kyros, the angara that brought me back, insisted. The fabric is soaked in... Something that does something. Apparently some angara have bad reactions to wraith bites, something to do with the acid. I'm not sure, they were telling me while I was high off meds," Cora explained. "I'm fine though," she added quickly as she saw Sara's brow knit with concern, "I think Lexi just did it to be polite... The bite looked worse than it was. I just have to have my foot up, which is even more uncomfortable than it looks." She heaved a sigh, watching her toes with what could almost be described as a pout. But Cora never pouted.

"You're more annoyed that you can't _will_ your leg immediately better, aren't you?" Sara asked, fighting a grin. Cora was an even worse patient than she was, something Sara always found hilarious.

"Totally," Cora grumbled.


	9. Dirt is a Meaningless Word

**A/N: For those weird moments when the universe seems to listen in the worst kind of way :P**

* * *

" _Doctor Anwar, I have something for you." Sara's voice was low and husky, her bright blue eyes locked with Suvi's in such an intense stare that Suvi felt her mouth go dry. Her heart fluttered with anticipation as Sara crossed the bridge in quick, purposeful strides, closing the gap between them in seconds. The Pathfinder reached down and easily gathered her science officer up in her arms, drawing her out of her chair. She paused for one charged moment, eyes on Suvi's, bright blue darkening with lust, and then dipped her head. Their lips crashed together in the most blissful of kisses. Heat bloomed in her chest, radiating outwards to the very tips of her fingers and toes._

 _Suvi felt the world fall away. Sara was her everything in that moment. She responded immediately, hands taking a leisurely tour up Sara's arms, feeling hard muscle beneath her fingers. Tension built low in her stomach as she wound her arms around Sara's neck and tangled her fingers in lustrous raven hair, and_ -

"Suvi!"

Her eyes flew open in shock, and Suvi returned to the Tempest with a jolt. Her console console glowed in front of her, blazing orange dotted with multicoloured buttons and lights, a glaring difference to the pleasantly warm haze of her fantasy. She twisted round in her chair to stare wide eyed as Sara strode across the bridge towards her, the doors hissing closed behind the Pathfinder. Suvi felt herself blush bright red at having her sexy daydream interrupted by the very object of her desires. How in God's name was Sara here now, of all times?!

Her heart thundered in her chest, both from nerves and from the after effects of her daydream. She gulped, feeling inexplicably guilty and wondering with a panic if Sara might suddenly develop the ability to read minds.

Sara faltered in the middle of the bridge, bright grin dropping as she frowned at Suvi in concern. "Are you okay? You look really red..."

"Fine. Just hot." Suvi barely managed to squeak out and waved a hand in front of her face in a fanning motion as if that might help. She knew she looked and sounded frantic and that really didn't help with the blushing.

Sara studied her quietly for a moment, unconvinced but unable to work out what the issue might actually be. "Okay."

"How can we help you, Pathfinder?" Kallo asked pleasantly without turning. He was smirking into his workstation, Suvi could see it plain as day and was attempting to catch his attention before Sara could see and query it. She just _knew_ Kallo somehow understood exactly why she was blushing and flustered. Thankfully though Sara was fiddling with something on her omni-tool and hadn't noticed.

"I have some scans of plants and dirt and stuff from Aya," she explained, typing on her glowing gauntlet and looking very pleased with herself.

"You know 'dirt' is a meaningless word?" Suvi started, but then her own omni-tool chimed as a message landed. She eagerly lifted her arm to swipe the omni-tool awake and opened Sara's message. She failed to suppress the grin as she saw Sara had written ' _You're welcome ;P_ ' but then her eyes widened as she saw a whole host of attached files waiting for her perusal. "Oh, this is brilliant!" she gushed, eagerly scrolling through the items.

Sara turned to Kallo and they shared an amused grin. They had probably lost Suvi for hours now as she became completely absorbed by the data, and both knew it.

"How did you get this?" Suvi asked, finger hovering over one file, then moving onto the next. There were reams and reams of data. The angara couldn't have trusted Sara straight away, surely they hadn't allowed her to take information on their home world back to her ship however innocent it seemed. Even if she _had_ rescued the captured angara from the facility on Voeld _and_ was about to safely return Moshae Sjefer to them she knew Efvra was still wary of them, second guessing every decision Sara made. No, she hadn't got this while on Aya. Besides, she wouldn't have held it for weeks before handing it over.

"I asked Jaal about it and he put it all together," Sara thumb-hooked her belt, shifted her weight into one leg. She looked pleased that her 'gift' had been so well received. "Really you should be thanking him. I'm just the messenger."

Suvi looked up and felt her stomach flip at the playful crooked smile on Sara's lips. "I will," she said breathlessly. "And you. You asked for it. I hope the angara let us look at more when we go back to Aya. I only saw a brief glimpse as we flew in, and I was..." She paused and frowned to herself, "Well. Mainly worried about being shot out of the sky at the time but what I saw was _amazing_. I _have_ to know more."

"Of course you do," Sara said in amusement and Suvi blushed.

"You got something for Suvi," Kallo commented. "What about me?"

Sara looked over at him and spread her arms, looking overly apologetic. "Sorry, Kallo, they were fresh out of model ships."

"Well, that's just rude," he mock-sulked.

"Aw, no, are you going to report me to Tann for workplace discrimination?" Sara pouted melodramatically.

"You don't know," Kallo said, black eyes playful, tone serious. "I might."

Suvi's eyes moved between her colleagues as they teased each other. The crew all seemed to play off each other so well, and then there was her. Why was she so awkward when everyone else had an easy banter between themselves?

"I- I would, um, defend your honour," she told Sara lamely. She averted her eyes as those brilliant blues sought out her gaze, flicked up again in time to see that stomach-flipping sloped smirk.

"Yeah, you would," Sara said with a tone that again made Suvi feel hot all over.

"Aha," Suvi nodded, confidence growing with the look of mischief in Sara's eyes, "I could definitely take on Tann."

Kallo snorted loudly behind them and then cleared his throat to try and cover it up. Sara ignored him and simply smiled at Suvi, who felt that Sara had somehow guessed what she had been trying to do.

"You would be better suited to battling him with your mind," the salarian advised. "You have a terrible aim."

"And _how_ would you know that?" Sara asked Kallo with a slow grin, sensing a story.

"She throws things at me when she's annoyed," Kallo answered gravely.

Sara turned to Suvi, raising her eyebrows in amusement. Suvi spluttered in response. "Just rations wrappers!" She insisted, and shot Kallo a scowl. "Nothing painful. And that's only after he's been winding me up for ages, which he _loves_ to do."

"I would never! I am the essence of professionalism," Kallo replied. "She almost always misses, littering my beautiful bridge."

Sara laughed and turned back to Suvi. "We'll have to work on your aim sometime. Though…I really can't see you getting _that_ annoyed. You're our resident ray of sunshine!" Suvi beamed at the compliment.

"Don't encourage her," Kallo said.

Sara laughed again and made her way across the bridge to the doors. "I have to go. Play nice. And Suvi, enjoy your scans."

"I will!" Suvi called, twisting in her chair to watch Sara walk through the doors into the corridor outside. "Thank you!"

The doors _whooshed_ closed and Suvi dropped back into her seat properly, fiddling with her omni-tool cuff, desperate to get back to the scans but knowing she had to contain herself until after her shift had ended.

"You can look through them," Kallo said without looking up from his workstation. Suvi glanced his way and caught him smiling to himself. "It's technically work-related." He glanced her way.

"I love you, Kallo," Suvi said with a grin, uploading the scans to her own workstation.

"Oh, I know," he replied with a warm chuckle.


	10. Bonding

Sara shifted her attention from the data pad she had been reading as she made her way towards the tech suite to the steaming mug she held in her other hand. She lifted it to her lips and blew across the surface of her coffee in an attempt to cool it. Steam swirled into her face, hot and damp against her skin and blissfully fragrant with the scent of instant coffee. She tipped the mug and slurped a sip, wincing and quickly swallowing as it burned her tongue. "Ah, hot!"

"Aw, thanks, Ryder." Peebee's comment drew her eyes to the asari, who shot her a pantomime wink from her position at one of the consoles in the centre of the research room.

Sara rolled her eyes and raised her mug for Peebee to see. "Not you, the coffee," she needlessly explained.

Peebee snorted and returned her gaze to the information displayed on the console in front of her. "Hey, a girl can dream, right?"

"Dream on, Peebee," Sara taunted her, crossing the deck to the tech lab in the corner, where their newest addition to the crew had decided to take up residence. Jaal ama Darav, angaran resistance fighter, voluntary member of the Tempest crew, all around curiosity.

"Break my heart," Peebee called playfully after her.

Sara shook her head in mock despair as she entered Jaal's 'quarters', smiling brightly at the angaran as he lifted his head to see who had opened the door. His almost-feline features were bathed in orange light from the display on his workbench. His modified kett rifle lay in several pieces across the surface, as he tinkered with it again. He looked concerned, having heard the tail end of her conversation with the mischievous asari.

"Have you upset Peebee?" He asked, sapphire eyes darting over Sara's shoulder to look at Peebee, flicking back to the Pathfinder as the door slid shut.

"Huh?" Sara looked at him blankly, confused until she realised he hadn't picked up on the laughter in Peebee's voice. "Oh, no, she's just playing."

"I see," Jaal said, though he clearly didn't.

"You modding your rifle again?" Sara nodded her head at his cluttered workbench and Jaal returned his gaze to the assorted parts; circuits and bolts and metallic pieces interspersed with various tools.

"Yes," he answered simply.

Sara waited for him to elaborate. He didn't. Jaal tended to be quite literal, offering only the information that had been requested. Sara was just about getting used to it. "You shouldn't keep tinkering. What if it falls apart mid battle?" She said, not entirely sure if she was joking. It had been pulled apart and tweaked several times in the short time they had known each other, probably weakening various fixtures. She suspected it was a comfort thing, a way of busying himself with the deconstruction and building of the familiar and reliable weapon.

"It won't," he replied vaguely, lifting the scope and staring through it. "Did you need something, Ryder?"

Sara tipped her head side to side in a so-so motion. "Sort of," she admitted. "You've been with us a few weeks now, I just wanted to see how you're doing?"

And what a couple of weeks it had been, traipsing around Voeld and Havarl, gaining Efvra's trust, and eventually rescuing Moshae Sjefer and a horde of angara from being exalted in a kett facility. The rescue mission had been hard on Jaal as they discovered the gruesome truth behind the kett: that they were angara mutated and transformed into monsters. Lexi had been watching him closely and her reports were good. Jaal appeared happy enough while keeping to himself, though also seemed to have attached himself to Suvi and Kallo, the quieter members of the Tempest crew. And he intended to stay with the Tempest, adding to their odd little family. Sara was pleased; he was a fierce warrior and would be helpful to have around while negotiating with the angara.

"I am fine," Jaal looked up at her and gave her a genuine smile. "Thank you for asking."

Sara returned the smile. "Good. Listen, we'll be docking with the Nexus soon. It's a resupply so we won't be there long but... Come find me once we've docked and I'll show you around?" She looked at him hopefully.

"The Nexus is your home?" Jaal asked slowly, eyes curious.

Sara paused, unsure how to answer that. "Ah…Sort of?" She supposed it was the temporary focal point for the Milky Way species. "I guess. Until we get our outposts up and running properly, anyway."

"Hmm," Jaal replied thoughtfully, a rumbling noise in his chest that, combined with his feline appearance, always made Sara think of a cat purring. She quickly raised her mug and took a mouthful of hot coffee to hide her amused grin. "I would like that. Thank you, Ryder."

Sara swallowed and nodded, backing out of the lab. "Brilliant. I'll be in my quarters until then," she said, turning as she heard the door open behind her and striding back out into the research room. Peebee still occupied the console in the middle of the deck but seemed so engrossed in whatever it was she was up to that she didn't notice Sara's reappearance. Probably something remnant related. Sara chose not to disturb her and instead made her way straight to her quarters on the below deck.

* * *

Sara felt the deck give the faintest of tremors as the Tempest dropped out of FTL. They would soon be docking with the Nexus to resupply. She would show Jaal around some of the places before taking care of her own business. All in all, she expected to be there for the rest of the 'day', such as it was, before leaving once again and heading for Kadara, following the trail hinted at by the map in Aya's vault. She leaned back in her desk chair, crossing her arms behind her head and arching her spine, feeling it pop as she stretched out her muscles. She had been going through her emails since speaking with Jaal, messages from Eos, Ark Hyperion, the Nexus, her crew. Drack kept sending her pictures of guns, while Cora sent her endless lists of asari texts that Sara really had no interest in but she saved them anyway so she could pretend she intended to look at them at a later date. She had invitations to revisit Prodromos, requests to assist with things that really didn't require a Pathfinder response but she would help them anyway, an interview with a reporter that she wasn't entirely sure she should agree to, countless emails pouring in every day.

"Ugh, I need a secretary," she muttered, dropping her arms either side of her chair and scowling at her terminal for a moment before leaning forwards and switching it off. "SAM, ask Jaal to meet me at the landing ramp in thirty?"

" _Yes, Pathfinder_ ," SAM replied at once on their private channel.

* * *

Jaal had viewed the Nexus with wonder as they stepped off the Tempest landing ramp, looking around himself curiously even as colonists stared at Jaal. Angara were yet to be viewed in the flesh by the vast majority. Sara shifted protectively closer to him, her gaze flicking from person to person. None were brave enough to approach him, and none seemed to be reacting negatively. The people, of course, had been told of the angara already, most likely by a station-wide news bulletin from Tann attempting to claim most of the credit for their 'discovery'.

Jaal had yet to notice the gawpers, more interested in his surroundings. Gleaming white panels clad floors and walls, glass barriers and display windows all but sparkled beneath bright lights, and small trees and thick green foliage stood in planters in the centre of the wide open Nexus commons. And people, so many people, stood chatting in groups and bustled to and fro engrossed in data pads or information on their orange glowing omni-tools. A few asari and Turians, a couple of krogan, but mostly humans.

"Everyone is staring at me," Jaal remarked suddenly.

Sara looked sideways at him and grinned. "Now you know how I felt being escorted through Aya," she teased him.

"Hmmm," Jaal murmured in agreement. "It is... Unpleasant." He met the gaze of a curious asari, who turned away once she realized she had been seen.

"We can go back?" Sara offered, jerking a thumb over her shoulder to indicate the way they had walked from the Tempest.

"No, continue," Jaal said. "I am curious."

"I'd take you to meet Director Tann," Sara told him jokingly, "but... I don't want you to get the wrong impression of us." She shot him a mischievous look, one that Jaal returned. He knew her feelings on Tann.

"Yes, I've heard enough about him to know I wouldn't enjoy the meeting."

Sara laughed and dragged him off towards the shuttles that would take them further into the Nexus. "Come on, this way, I know you'll love this..."

* * *

Sara took Jaal on a tour of the Hyperion and the Nexus, showing him the combined achievements of the Milky Way people, even taking him to the SAM node which he clearly found fascinating. She dragged him away before he could start dismantling things to see how they worked... But her ultimate goal was the small marketplace that had sprung up on the Nexus, where some enterprising people had taken over empty storage rooms and turned a lifeless space into one of vibrant activity. It always seemed to have grown larger, busier, brighter, whenever Sara visited. Hell, she had seen it before anyone had claimed any of the space, when it had been cold and dark and quiet. Now though, a handful of shops had sprung up where people bartered for goods that had absolutely been illegally smuggled aboard when leaving the milky way. Small, harmless things that had been deemed useless and banned purely due to weight and space constraints. Things to comfort people who woke in a strange place, billions of light years away from home.

Amongst the makeshift stores was a coffee shop. Inside it was tiny, barely big enough for the counter and three tables and chairs that occupied its space. All three mismatched tables were taken but mercifully there were more outside, clustered haphazardly around the entrance. Sara ushered Jaal over towards a group of free tables.

"Go sit, I'll order us something and bring it over," she said excitedly.

"Ryder, we have tea houses too, I know how this works," Jaal informed her as he made his way over to one table and sat down on a rickety wooden stool.

"This isn't a tea house," Sara replied, "it's a coffee shop and you're severely lacking in that department. I checked."

Jaal hummed his agreement, distracted by the napkin dispenser on the table he had chosen. It looked like it had been crudely welded together from a sheet of thin metal, and she had no idea where the napkins had surfaced from but each table seemed to have its own little dispenser and a bowl of sugar cubes. It had been real sugar at the start, when the shop first opened, but now it tasted artificial. She suspected it wouldn't be long before they burned through their supplies and closed, unless they found a way to grow coffee in Andromeda, and fast. She dreaded the day coffee became a thing of the past.

For now, though, her blessed nectar was readily available, and from an honest to God real grinder and proper commercial coffee machine. She had no idea how they had pulled this off- probably a mix of smuggling parts, omni-tool minifacturing, and pilfering of bits and bobs- but they absolutely needed a medal for it. Sara strode up to the counter with a broad grin on her face.

Jaal looked up as he noticed movement in his peripheral and saw Sara making her way over, holding two of the tiniest tea cups he had ever seen, which she proudly set down on the table before dropping into the chair opposite him.

"What is it?" he asked, looking down at the cup, at the strange deep brown liquid inside. It had a strong bitter scent unlike anything he could identify. He looked back up at Sara, head tilted curiously.

"Well," she said, glancing at her own cup and lifting it with a little grin, cradling it in one hand. "This is called espresso."

Jaal watched her for a moment, then looked back down at his own cup, touching one finger to minifactured china, feeling the heat of the drink it held. "Ess…spress…oh..." he spoke slowly, trying the word out.

"Yes!" Sara said eagerly. "It's made from coffee which is an amazing drink made from beans!"

"Ah, yes," Jaal nodded with recognition, finally lifting his cup and holding it in imitation of Sara. "Doctor Anwar told me about it."

Sara paused, having not expected that. "She did?" She was fairly certain, though, that Jaal had yet to try the glorious drink.

"Yes. She called it your magic potion," Jaal replied, sniffing curiously at the coffee.

Sara arched one eyebrow. "She did?"

Jaal missed the change in tone, now far more interested in inspecting his drink from every angle, and answered simply, "yes."

"Huh." She and Suvi chatted occasionally, sure. The most meaningful conversation they'd had, though, was whether or not Suvi took sugar with her tea, however, apparently the gentle scot already had the measure of her. Sara wasn't a morning person. She definitely needed a coffee or two before she could pass as even remotely human. She dwelt on that a moment before grinning and reaching across the table to bump her knuckles against Jaal's shoulder. "Well, try it!" She gestured enthusiastically to the cup he tentatively held. "I double checked with SAM _and_ Lexi and it's okay for you to drink." She raised her cup in a toast, then drank, closing her eyes in bliss and savouring the coffee hit. Jaal watched her, then copied the motion, sipping his coffee and rolling it around his mouth before swallowing while Sara watched like a hawk. "Well?" She asked almost nervously when he remained silent.

Jaal carefully placed his cup on the table and nodded his head. "Hmm. It's bitter."

"Would you like sugar to sweeten it?" Sara asked, already reaching for the glass dish on their table that contained cubes of white and brown fraudsugar.

"No, no, I like it," Jaal looked up at her and smiled.

Sara grinned in response, excited to share a small part of the Milky Way with her friend. "I drink it as an Americano on Tempest. Tall." She motioned with one hand, hovering it above the table to show the size of a taller cup.

"Angara have a sweet tea," Jaal said. "Perhaps I can show you when we visit Aya next?"

"I'd like that," Sara said, picking up her cup again and motioning for Jaal to do the same. When he had his cup in hand, she tapped them both together and said, "cheers."

Jaal realized she was waiting for him to repeat the word. "Cheers?" He replied slowly.

Sara laughed. "Okay, now drink!" She said.

Jaal copied her, finishing his espresso and putting the cup back down on the table. "Very good," he told her.

* * *

Coffee experience over, Sara walked with Jaal towards the shuttles. "Do you think you can find your way back alone?" She asked him. "I have to go see someone before we head back." She gestured towards the shuttle that would take her to the Ark Hyperion.

"Yes," Jaal said simply pressing the button to open the shuttle doors for the Nexus communal area and the Tempest and stepping inside. He crossed to the panel on the wall opposite, scrutinized it a moment, and then successfully selected his destination.

"Okay…well…Bye…" Sara said lamely to herself as the doors closed on Jaal.

She turned towards the other shuttle and hit the door controls, feeling jittery with a mix of nerves and caffeine as the door slid sideways and she stepped inside alone. The door closed behind her, sealing her in, and she tapped the icon she needed on the map displayed of the Ark and Nexus. The shuttle began to move steadily towards the Hyperion cryo wing.

Sara stood before the door head down, hands stuffed into the front pocket of her hoody. She knew it was stupid to feel so anxious. Scott would be okay, the medical staff were just working on the complications of his condition, but it was terrifying to witness her twin brother in a medically induced coma. He just didn't look right. Scott was lively and boisterous, his sharp mind and sharper tongue always ready with some playful taunt. Seeing him locked in his cryo pod like a coffin had been awful, but now he was out of the pod it was almost worse. He looked so weak and sickly and _lifeless_. Like a waxwork mockery of himself. Sara felt as though she had been cleaved in two. He was her _twin_ , he was supposed to be by her side fighting for a home together.

The shuttle began to slow. Sara stared out the window, barely hearing the robotic announcer call out the stop from hidden speakers. The vehicle came to a halt and the door panel _whooshed_ open. The corridor outside was empty and silent, bright white light glaringly reflected from white floors and walls and ceilings. The only thing breaking up all of the white was a couple of potted shrubs adding a splash of green in the corners. She could see the sign on the wall for the cryo recovery wing, where Scott currently resided.

Sara took a deep breath and forced herself through the door.


	11. Mistakes Were Made

**A/N: because we all have off days :P**

* * *

Sara had made the mistake of allowing Peebee to bring her juice box along on her current excursion. She was headed for the Nexus science labs having received an invitation via email to take part in an 'exciting educational science experiment' that definitely seemed legit but had raised enough unanswered questions for her to request Peebee and Cora shadow her. Peebee had run out of juice almost as soon as they left the Tempest but that hadn't stopped her insistently sucking on the straw to find every last friggin' drop left in the carton. It was annoying Sara, and she could see Cora's eye twitching every time the straw made that damn rasping, gurgling noise.

"Don't you think that's finished now?" Cora asked Peebee pointedly, voice strained.

"No, there's some in the corner," Peebee replied distractedly, completely oblivious to the ire of her companions. Sara and Cora exchanged an exasperated look behind the asari.

The noise started up again. Cora grit her teeth and clenched her fist at her side. Sara saw the tell-tale flicker of blue energy around her friend's fingers and suddenly Peebee was choking on air that had been unexpectedly forced from her now-crushed carton through her straw and into her mouth.

"Cora!" Sara cried, shocked.

Peebee recovered swiftly, tossing her carton into a bin as they passed and rounding on Cora. "That is not the huntress way!" she scolded, finger wagging, hazel eyes teasing while her tone was serious.

"oh, like you'd know about the huntress way?" Cora muttered, folding her arms over her chest and glowering off to one side.

"I know enough," Peebee replied haughtily.

Cora lifted one eyebrow and shot her a look of disbelief, "reading three lines of a training manual before your ADHD ass gets bored does _not_ count."

"Pffft, please," Peebee rolled eyes. "I read four lines."

"You guys, just kiss and make up already," Sara groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose between thumb and forefinger. She could feel a stress headache building already. She should have known bringing these two along would result in an argument.

Peebee and Cora immediately fell silent, Peebee glancing sideways at Cora to gauge her reaction, wondering, for one insane moment, if a kiss actually _would_ break the tension between them. Cora seemed to read her mind as she responded with a withering stare, unseen by Sara who had marched on ahead, eager to get this trip over and done with.

Sara sighed heavily through her nose, glad the arrivals hall was quiet for once so she didn't have to dodge and weave through crowds of people. The way to the labs was blessedly clear. All she had to do was get in, sign off the experiment, and escape. She could seal herself up in her quarters on Tempest and Peebee and Cora could become someone else's problem.

"Quit staring at Ryder's ass," Cora spoke suddenly.

Sara felt a spark of annoyance. Who knew taking on a crew of adults would be more like babysitting bickering kids?

Peebee huffed out a frustrated sigh. "Why do you have to suck the fun out of everything?" She snapped at Cora.

"Oh, for-" Sara started, whirling around to face them and bringing the group to a halt.

"I do not suck the fun out of everything!" Cora insisted, clenching her fists at her sides.

"Fun-sucker," Peebee replied.

"Guys!" Sara cried, spreading her arms wide as though to indicate something. How utterly ridiculous they were being, perhaps.

"For the record, Ryder, you have a cute ass," Peebee said, propping one hand on her hip and smirking at Sara. Sara dropped her hands to her sides and blinked at the asari, at a loss.

"Peebee!" Cora stared at her, apparently shocked Peebee would say such a thing in public.

Peebee gave a wicked grin. "So do you, Cora."

"What?!" Cora looked like her head was about to explode. Peebee winked at her. "Why did you let her join our crew?" Cora demanded seriously, looking accusingly at Sara.

Sara opened her mouth to speak and promptly closed it again. 'Because she seemed fun' probably wasn't the best thing to say under current circumstances. She shuffled her feet and thumb-hooked her belt. "I'd prefer not to answer that..."

"Because Ryder knows how to have fun," Peebee said, sauntering off ahead.

"That doesn't even make sense!" Cora called after her.

"You know she enjoys winding you up, right?" Sara asked, watching Cora worriedly.

"I know," Cora muttered darkly as they started after Peebee. "I just..." She reached up and rubbed the back of her neck, shaking her head and shrugging. "I slept bad. My stupid leg hurt no matter what position I lay in."

Sara glanced down at Cora's leg sympathetically. She knew it was healing well despite being used as a wraith's chew toy, but Cora was still walking with a faint limp.

"You could have asked for painkillers," she pointed out, but Cora waved off the suggestion. "You didn't need to come, you know? You could have stayed on Tempest and rested up."

Cora gave Sara a look that clearly stated she thought the Pathfinder had gone mad. "I don't even _want_ to think about what kind of disaster the two of you would somehow wind up in without a sensible chaperone."

"I literally just watched you crush the baby asari's juicebox with your magic powers because she annoyed you," Sara spoke deadpan. "You're not the sensible chaperone here." Sara shot her a playful look, then gasped and grabbed Cora's upper arm.

"Ow, what?" Cora asked in confusion at Sara's sudden excitement.

" _I'm_ the sensible chaperone!" Sara realized, pressing her palm against the centre of her chest.

"Well, there's a first time for everything," Cora remarked. "Don't let Peebee catch you calling her a baby."

"Aw, you secretly care about her feelings," Sara teased. Cora shot the Pathfinder a look that was clearly meant to state otherwise, but Sara didn't falter. She knew Cora found the young asari infuriating, but she had seen Cora risk her life for Peebee in battle. Sara had no worries about the bonds amongst her crew. Well, except for Gil and Kallo who seemed to constantly be at each other's throats but at least she could keep them at opposite ends of the ship. Mostly.

Peebee bounded up the ramp that adjoined the walkway above the arrivals hall of the Nexus, making her way towards the science labs without her human colleagues. Cora watched as the asari disappeared from sight, then looked sideways at Sara. The Pathfinder matched her pace, happily ambling along beside the blonde. "You should probably run after her," Cora warned. She was under strict no-hurrying rules from Lexi while her leg mended.

"She'll be fine," Sara shook her head and grinned at Cora. "What harm could she possibly do here?"

"Those are famous last words if ever I heard any..." Cora muttered.

"You worry too much," Sara replied, elbowing her playfully in the ribs.

* * *

Peebee looked up from the datapad in her hand as the lab door hissed open and grinned broadly as she saw Sara and Cora stepping inside. "Guys, we have a pet pyjak!" She announced proudly.

"Waitwut?" Sara asked blankly, freezing in the entrance to the lab and blinking at Peebee. Cora squeezed by the Pathfinder to enter the room and halted in front of Peebee looking horrified.

The asari stood beside a cage occupied by a... Yes, that was definitely a pyjak looking back at her. And suddenly it all began to fall into place… An exciting science experiment studying the effects of space travel on living organisms…

Cora stared wide-eyed at Sara. "You agreed to house a _pyjak_ on the _Tempest_?!" she asked incredulously, voice loud in the quiet lab.

Sara looked alarmed. "I didn't mean to!" She hissed, mindful of the scientists bustling around workbenches at the back of the room. A salarian glanced up from the microscope he had been bending over and looked their way, sensing trouble. "They just said it was a science experiment that would be really beneficial and wouldn't interrupt our day-to-day operations and I was trying to be helpful!"

Peebee cackled with glee. "Kallo is gonna _freak_ when he finds out."

"Send it back!" Cora cried.

"We can't. I already signed for it." Peebee grinned and waggled the datapad at her as proof, loving the potential mayhem she had inadvertently caused with a mere signature.

"It has to be void, you're not the Pathfinder!" Cora insisted.

Peebee simply smirked. "Nope, but I'm part of the team and Ryder already agreed to it, so..." She shrugged and left the datapad on the top of the cage. "The signature was just a formality."

"Goddammit, Ryder," Cora sighed, closing her eyes and pushing her fingers through her hair.

"Is there a problem?" the salarian had crossed the room and was standing anxiously nearby, looking from Sara, to Cora, to Peebee and back again.

"No!" Sara said at the same time Cora insisted, "yes!"

"No," Sara said again, narrowing her eyes at Cora to keep her quiet, then smiling kindly at the salarian scientist. "Thank you."

"Would you arrange for this little guy to be sent to Tempest for us?" Peebee asked the salarian sweetly, indicating the cage she stood beside.

"Of course," he nodded and hurried away, eager to get away from the bickering humans.

Sara watched him go, then looked down at the pyjak. He was chattering at them from his cage and whirling in circles, excited by the raised voices.

"He's kinda cute..." She said with a sheepish grin.

Cora looked down at him for a moment before giving a resigned "Ugh." She hid her face in her palm. "Sure, Ryder..."

Sara looked hopefully at Peebee, who shrugged and nodded. "He's kinda cute," the asari agreed.

Sara gave a wry smile. She just had to convince Kallo it was a good idea...


	12. What Sober Couldn't Say

**A/N: Remember that time Lexi went missing...? :P**

* * *

Sara strode anxiously into Vortex, the club that had popped up almost immediately after the Uprising on the Nexus and had been an instant hit with the newly awakened colonists, and glanced around herself, searching for a familiar face. Techno music played from hidden speakers, relatively quiet at this time of day but still loud enough for her to need to raise her voice should she wish to be heard. Only a handful of tables were occupied which made spotting Lexi easy. Sara felt relief flood through her, the knot in her chest loosening, and released a breath. She hadn't expected to find Lexi here but it was the only place that made sense after exhausting all other options.

Lexi sat alone, away from the other patrons, nursing a bottle of alcohol and a half-empty glass at a table in a booth in one corner of the club. She hadn't seen Sara yet, and didn't look likely to notice the Pathfinder any time soon. The asari sat staring morosely at the tabletop, oblivious to her surroundings. How long had she been here? She had been missing for over an hour now, had she spent that whole time in Vortex drinking? Alone? Sara felt a pang of guilt. Someone should have noticed that Lexi was hurting. _She_ should have noticed. Lexi was a member of _her_ crew, it was her duty to care for each and every one of them.

Sara took a moment to wipe away the worry on her face, replace it with nonchalance, then finally made her way across the room to her wayward doctor.

"There you are!" She said overly cheerfully. "Looking for the meaning of life?" She tipped her head, motioning to the near-empty bottle of wine on the tabletop.

Lexi threw a poker face her way. "At the bottom of a bottle?" She asked slowly, words slurring. Sara shrugged her shoulders and dropped into the booth, sitting opposite Lexi with a sigh.

"I don't know, it's a pretty popular place to look," she quipped. Lexi continued to stare her down miserably. Sara let her glare for a moment, her own gaze uncharacteristically soft as she allowed her concern to show. "You shouldn't just skip out like that, you know? Everyone was worried."

Lexi gave a derisive snort, clearly not believing that. "As you see, I'm fine." She said stiffly, looking away from Sara, across the near-empty room.

"Uh huh?" Sara replied sceptically. Lexi's eyes narrowed angrily, snapped up to meet Sara's.

"What?" She demanded sharply. "I can't kick back? Have fun?"

"Woah!" Sara held her hands up in surrender. "Hey, sorry, I meant no offence. You just…" She hesitated.

"Just what?" Lexi challenged.

Sara paused awkwardly, not sure how to continue. She was making an absolute mess of this. She should have called Suvi…out of all of the Tempest crew, their softly spoken science officer was probably best suited to talking Lexi out of her mood. But it was too late for that now. In the end, Sara settled with speaking the truth, "you don't seem like you're having fun." She leaned forwards, resting her forearms on the table, brow knit with concern. She had never seen Lexi like this before. Lost, bitter, _drunk_.

Lexi dropped her gaze to huff out a disappointed sigh. "I grew up on Omega," she said softly. Sara barely heard her over the music playing over the sound system "You'd think I'd know how to drink."

Sara cracked a half smile. "I'm sure you can still drink me under the table. Now," she ducked her head to catch Lexi's gaze, "what's this really about?"

Lexi kept eye contact for only a moment before looking down at the table again. Sara could see she was struggling to find her words, not wanting to admit to the problem. "Peebee thinks I don't care about the crew," she admitted finally. "That you're all just experiments to me. Do you…?" She stopped awkwardly, then looked up to meet Sara's eyes again, her own creased with worry. Worry that she wouldn't like the answer to the question she wanted to ask. "Is that how you think I see you?"

Sara was baffled. "Since when do you care what Peebee thinks?" She blurted.

"It's not the first time someone told me that," Lexi said grimly. "In fact, every one of my exes said something similar. And that's not an answer."

"You wouldn't be moping in this bar if you only saw us all as experiments," Sara pointed out.

Lexi scowled. "I don't mope."

Sara hid a smile at Lexi's tone. "And you wouldn't organize all those group dinners."

Lexi's shoulders slumped and she lowered her eyes once again, definitely moping. "You mean the ones no one shows up to? Like the bulletins no one reads?"

"Ah."

Lexi's head snapped up, eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Ah? What's 'ah'?"

Sara leaned forwards, believing she had zeroed in on the second part of the issue. "Do you feel underappreciated by us?"

"Don't psych me, Ryder, I'm the doctor here," Lexi warned her tersely.

Sara sat back and nodded seriously. "Of course."

Lexi ran one fingertip down the length of her glass, chasing condensation. "I suppose it's entirely possible I feel a bit like I don't belong," she finally admitted. "Part of that is my efforts being dismissed. Part of it is a worry that Peebee's…issues with me are shared by the crew," her eyes flicked up to meet Sara's warily. "I don't think you're all experiments."

"I know you don't," Sara told her gently, reaching across the table with both hands to clasp one of Lexi's. "And we appreciate you. I mean, who else is gonna scold me for getting into some dumb situation while she patches me up again?" Sara raised one eyebrow, giving Lexi a sloped grin. "Huh?"

Lexi rolled her eyes good naturedly. "You _enjoy_ putting me through that, don't you?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny the accuracy of that statement," Sara replied with a cheeky grin.

Lexi couldn't help laughing.

"So, are you going to share your wine or hog it?" Sara asked playfully. Lexi chuckled and pushed her glass and bottle across the table towards the Pathfinder.

"Help yourself, I think I've had enough already."

Sara shook her head and nudged it back. "Save it for another time," she said. "I was just joking. Wine's too classy for me," she flashed a grin and Lexi responded with a small smile. "Come on, let's get you back to the ship." Sara leaned back in her seat, preparing to stand but waiting for Lexi to move first.

"Are you _escorting_ me, Pathfinder?" Lexi asked, raising one eyebrow.

"I don't know, think I'll have to?" Sara teased with her cocky sloped smirk.

"I can walk just fine," Lexi replied. "Just…" She looked away, embarrassed. "Perhaps we should wait until I feel a bit more sober. I don't want the crew seeing me like this."

"Of course," Sara replied. "Why don't we go for a walk?"

"I'd like that," Lexi said, getting to her feet. True to her word she was steady enough. Sara stood and picked up the bottle of wine. "And Ryder? Thank you."

Sara looked sideways at her in confusion as they made their way across the club towards the exit. "For what?"

"Coming to find me," Lexi said, looking away. "For talking."

Sara grinned and playfully bumped their shoulders as they stepped outside, leaving the music and the heavy smell of alcohol for the bustle and cool air of the arrivals hall. "Any time," she said, leading Lexi away from where the Tempest was docked and heading deeper into the Nexus. "That's what friends are for, right?"

Lexi smiled. "Right."


	13. Badlands Monsters

**A/N: Halloween is my favourite day of the year. I wrote this as a Halloween story :D It's late because life happened :P**

* * *

Kralla's Song was not the most glamorous of bars but, as far as locales in Kadara Port went, it was the fanciest of establishments for miles. It was dark and moody, with plenty of shadowy corners for unsavoury types to lurk in, and lurk they did. The bar itself took up a corner of the room, scarred metal surface forming a block that the owner prowled behind. That owner was the husky asari Umi Henon. Currently she stood hunched with her palms braced against the bar surface, carefully watching the handful of people that lounged and slumped and leaned against tables, drinking hard liquor and cool beer or nursing empty cups and bottles. Sara had visited the bar only once before, earlier that morning, and already knew to be wary of Umi. She appeared as most asari did: blue skin, slim built. But Sara had witnessed even a krogan back down when threatened by the fearsome woman, who kept weapons as well as alcohol behind the bar. She was not to be crossed.

Sara's earlier visit to Kralla's had been to meet with the angaran resistance contact Shena, or rather, Reyes Vidal, a distractingly handsome and charming smuggler. She had turned down his offer of help in getting to the disgraced angara Vehn Terev, held in the prison cells beneath the port and awaiting execution for handing over Moshae Sjefer to the Archon. Sara intended to win over Sloane Kelly and going behind her back with whatever plan Reyes had come up with would not do her any favours on that front which meant that Sara was now waiting for an honest to God appointment to meet with Sloane. An _appointment_ to meet with a criminal. The very thought made her bristle from the sheer arrogance.

That was when she had received a recorded audio message from a Rhea Petras, one of Sloane's Outcast minions, requesting Sara meet her at Kralla's (apparently a popular place to meet. Though, probably the _only_ place to meet at the port). Rhea had hinted that if Sara helped her, she could help Sara. And so, for the second time that day Sara found herself in the bar, choosing a table near the door so that she could be easily identified by the Outcast who claimed she would recognize the Pathfinder on seeing her. Sara wasn't sure if she should be flattered or concerned and so settled for a healthy dose of both.

She shifted in her chair and cast yet another glance around the room, wondering if perhaps Rhea was already here and was merely watching the Pathfinder before approaching. It was relatively empty save for a handful of people she suspected were regulars; two Turians, a krogan and a human man, all of which were unlikely to be Rhea (though Sara was basing that assumption on the sound of Rhea's voice alone). None of them sat together. One, a turian, lay slumped across his table still holding his half empty glass. He hadn't moved since Sara had arrived and she was starting to wonder if he might actually be dead. She was just considering pointing this out to Umi when she heard the door of Kralla's rattle open and saw a tall human woman jog down the stairs. She wore cargo trousers and a tank top, showing strong arms inked with swirling black tattoo sleeves. Her skin was olive and a messy braid of thick dark hair snaked between her shoulder blades. A silver bar glinted in one eyebrow, dark eyes homing in on Sara immediately. The woman strode over, heavy boots thudding against the beaten steel floor panels, and dropped into the chair opposite Sara.

"Pathfinder." Not even a smile.

She folded her arms on the worn table top and watched for Sara's reaction. There was a tiny white scar on her chin that had Sara's fingers itching to reach for her own scar beneath her right eyebrow. She fought the urge and flicked her eyes up to meet the woman's gaze.

"Rhea?" She asked, though she already knew.

Rhea nodded once, dark eyes taking in Sara's appearance. "You're smaller than I thought you'd be."

"You're... Bigger," Sara admitted.

A faint smile took the edge off Rhea's serious expression, a flicker of amusement in her eyes, for the briefest of moments, and then she looked grave again. "I wanted to meet you because I think we have a problem out in the Badlands."

Sara was confused. "Why do you want me? Shouldn't Sloane be dealing with it?"

Rhea shook her head. "She has enough problems in the port, a bunch of missing exiles out there is of no concern to her. She won't devote the resources. I've asked."

"Because of the Charlatan?" Sara asked.

"Exactly," Rhea said, leaning forwards on her elbows, dark eyes never leaving Sara's. "I know you want to meet with Sloane, but she's brushing you off. A show of power, her word is law here. But, you help me, I'll convince her to see you sooner rather than later."

"I'm listening," Sara lowered her voice, sensing Rhea didn't want to be overheard. "You mentioned missing exiles?"

Rhea nodded. "I heard rumours in the port of people going missing in the Badlands. At first, I assumed they must just be fighting amongst themselves and getting rid of the bodies in the sulphur pools… I mean, they're exiled by exiles and there's no law out there," she waved a hand as though unchecked murder was of no consequence. "But I looked into it, went out and asked around and I keep hearing the same thing over and over," Rhea jabbed her finger into the table top with each 'over' to emphasize her point. "People are being abducted from their beds, gone without a trace and never heard from again. Always humans from dwellings and camps within the Haarfel area."

"That's not far out from the port," Sara said thoughtfully.

Rhea nodded her agreement before continuing, "one guy claims he saw something, but when I spoke to him, he insisted he saw a monster." It was clear from her expression she didn't believe whatever it was he had told her.

"Monsters are subjective," Sara replied. "Did he say what it looked like?"

"Oh yeah," Rhea lifted one eyebrow and her piercing glinted. "Pitch black skin, tall and spindly with glowing white eyes, claws, the works," she shrugged. "A drunk seeing shadows in the night. The people out there are getting scared. They think they're being hunted."

"Well, that doesn't sound like a disgruntled angara preying on outsiders," Sara muttered. That would have been too easy. "Sloane isn't bothered by this, so why are you?"

Rhea's eyes bored into Sara's, her jaw tensed, relaxed. "Because two days ago my brother, Kit, went missing out in the Haarfel region," she finally spoke. "He was scavenging for parts. There's a lot of mechanical debris out there from us taking on the kett and he finds it himself or trades with the locals, brings it back and sells it on the market here. I can give you his last known location," she was already calling up her omni-tool, not waiting for Sara to answer. "I couldn't find anything, but maybe you can?" She looked up at Sara hopefully.

"I'll do my best," Sara promised, nodding her head once. She could only imagine how she would feel in Rhea's position if Scott went missing and her superiors wouldn't sanction a rescue mission. The thought chilled her to the core. Unlike Rhea, though, Sara would flip them off while dashing to the rescue of her brother. And unlike Rhea, Sara didn't run the risk of potentially fatal repercussions once those same superiors caught up with her. Sara hadn't been in Kadara long but already she knew of Sloane's legendary temper, and her tendency to mount the heads of those who displeased her on pikes around the entrance to the port. She had seen the grisly remains of kett heads, skin sun-baked to taut leather, tongues grotesquely swollen, picked at by buzzing flies. In a matter of days Vehn Terev's head would be joining them.

"Thank you," Rhea said genuinely.

Sara looked down at her omni-tool cuff as it chimed the coordinates landing. "Whatever's hunting people is disabling the tracking on the victims' omni-tools. Monster or not, it's smart," Rhea continued.

"How many people am I looking for?"

Rhea sighed, shook her head and shrugged. "Nine, I think, over the past two months. Could be more, could be less. It's hard to tell out there. And it's already becoming a bit of a legend. I don't know how much of it has been fabricated or exaggerated. Just... Find my brother, please?"

"I'll do my best," Sara repeated sincerely. It was all she could promise. "Don't piss Sloane off too much before I get back to you."

Rhea flashed a smirk and pushed her chair back from the table. "I make no promises there," she said as she climbed to her feet. "Good luck, Pathfinder." She turned and crossed the room without looking back. Sara watched her go, wondering what she had gotten herself into now.

* * *

"This place is mental," Liam commented once Sara had finished relating the conversation with Rhea. She had found him in the Kadara market with Vetra and Peebee, presumably up to no good despite lack of evidence to suggest mischief. They had left the bustle of the market place, and returned to the port entrance, climbing a set of stairs to a balcony that gave them some privacy from the crowds while offering views of the Badlands below. It was strangely beautiful from that distance, with its hills and valleys, rugged mountains and bright blue pools of water edged in yellow sulphur.

"The Badlands are dangerous, people go missing all the time," Vetra pointed out.

"This sounds more like they're being preyed on than going regular missing," Peebee said.

"There's a regular missing?" Sara asked, looking sideways at her. Peebee just shrugged.

"You don't seriously think some monster is prowling out there?" Liam asked warily, brows creasing with a mix of confusion and concern.

"I don't know. Andromeda seems to have its fair share of horrors though," Sara said, turning away from the views below and folding her arms. She leaned back against the balcony railing and frowned at the floor.

"Oh, great," Liam threw up one arm and let it drop to his side. "That's me not sleeping tonight."

"So... What are we gonna do?" Peebee asked.

"Head out," Sara said, looking up at her colleagues.

"Now?" Vetra asked.

"Sure, why not?" Sara replied, bright blue eyes flicking from face to face, reading their expressions. They looked troubled. "There's enough daylight left to at least start an investigation."

"True enough," Liam agreed. "I'll ask Gil to get the Nomad ready."

"We really don't have enough intel on this to just go charging in," Vetra said. Sara watched her with one eyebrow raised, waiting. Vetra let the silence draw out, then nudged Sara's shoulder with her knuckles. "Obviously, I'm all in."

Sara grinned up at her. "I knew I could count on you."

Peebee coughed loudly into her fist.

"Yes, and you."

Liam looked at her pointedly and Sara rolled her eyes. "You guys are so needy!" She complained, pushing off from the railing and heading for the stairs that would take them back down into the main area of the port entrance. "Come on, we need to gear up."

* * *

A cloud of dust trailed the Nomad, marking its path through the Badlands as its six huge tires churned the earth and spat gravel and dirt into the air. The sky above them was clear and blue, the air warm. Sunlight dappled shadow across the mountains, and yellowing grass rippled in the wind like the surface of the multitude of sulphur-tainted pools and lakes that dotted Kadara's surface. It was hard to think of shadowy monsters hunting settlers in surroundings so…well, pleasant, Sara supposed, though 'Kadara' and 'pleasant' didn't really belong in the same sentence.

"What do you think we'll find out here?" Peebee asked from one of the back seats, leaning forward to speak to Sara and Liam in the front of the vehicle. "Rhea already spoke to everyone and poked around where her brother went missing..."

"Rhea doesn't have a SAM," Sara pointed out without looking back at her.

"True," Peebee agreed thoughtfully, her mind already hopping onto the next train of thought. "I wonder what kind of monster it is...?"

"Maybe a werewolf?" Liam suggested, twisting around in the front passenger seat to grin at her.

"I don't know, sounds more like a vampire to me..." Peebee replied. "Stalking people in the night, taking them away. A werewolf would leave more of a mess."

Vetra sighed loudly, sat beside Peebee. "Have you two been watching horror movies together again?" Her tone tinged with exasperation.

"Got to make our fun somehow!" Liam said cheerfully.

"You don't get enough horror with the kett?" Sara asked, only half joking.

"Surprisingly there's a difference between the fun of horror movies and the literal monsters of Andromeda," Liam told her, facing front once more.

"Tell me you haven't picked a horror movie for our movie night...?" Sara asked him warily. She was definitely up for watching scary movies, but knew it wouldn't be to the taste of some of the other members of her crew.

"I haven't picked a horror movie for our movie night," Liam promised her innocently.

Sara glanced sideways at him. "I don't believe you when you say it like that..."

"I'm wounded, Ryder," Liam said playfully, then shook his head. "No, I'm still figuring that out. Something that'll boost morale and appeal to everyone... It's hard."

"Well, I got your popcorn situation handled, so whenever you're ready let me know," Vetra said.

"Vetra, it's _Tempest_ movie night, not Vetra movie night. He'll let us _all_ know," Peebee spoke slowly, as though explaining to a child.

Vetra looked sideways at her in a way that suggested she was contemplating just how difficult it would be to throw her out of the Nomad while it was still moving.

"We're here!" Sara announced loudly, slowing the Nomad until it came to a graceful halt. They had been driving along a dirt road that followed the base of a hill that sloped sharply upwards until it joined one of several of Kadara's jagged mountains. Off to one side, away from the road and close to the foot of the hill, lay a cluster of brown porous boulders that had most likely come crashing down the mountainside in the distant past. They formed a natural shelter from the elements and beneath them was the remains of Kit's camp site, according to Rhea. It wasn't visible from the road, which had kept it safe from scavengers. Rhea claimed the only items she had taken and brought back to the port was her brother's pistol, and the bag of scrap he had gathered so far.

Sara hit a button on the dash in front of her, and the Nomad doors swung out and up either side of the front seats. She hoisted herself out of the pleasantly cool and clean interior of her transport and dropped down onto dusty ground, wrinkling her nose at the ever-present scent of sulphur carried on muggy air. Already her white-and-blue armour was covered with a thin film of dust. She reached back into the Nomad and retrieved her helmet as the others clambered out of the vehicle and joined her.

She saw Vetra scanning their surroundings with a practiced eye, searching for signs of enemies hidden amongst the crags and scraggly bushes.

Sara kept a hand close to the pistol at her hip as she walked across hard packed dirt and dry grass, heading for the campsite. Her assault rifle was within reach over one shoulder and she held her helmet in her other hand, ready to pull it on and draw a weapon at a moment's notice. She knew that Peebee, while appearing relaxed, was ready to bring up a biotic barrier to protect them, while Liam and Vetra would fall into formation at the first sign of danger. It always paid to be alert in Kadara.

As they neared the rock formation Sara could see there was a crawlspace created by an elongated boulder resting against a squat round boulder. The third boulder butted up against them both creating a space that had only one way in or out. It was big enough to allow Sara to crawl inside on her hands and knees if she so wished. She did not. Instead she crouched at the entrance and switched on the torch on her omni-tool, aiming it inside. White light revealed a crumpled dark blue thermal blanket, kicked aside perhaps in a scuffle, a lantern knocked onto one side, and a small pile of sealed rations. Nothing else.

"Well," Peebee said, crouched beside Sara. "That investigation took all of two seconds, now what?" She stood up and put her hands on her hips, looking at the ground around them as though she might find further clues that Rhea had somehow missed.

Sara turned off her torch and pushed herself to her feet. "SAM, scan for... Anything," she said, pulling on her helmet and swiping on her omni-tool to call up the scanner function.

The others began to fan out around her, glancing over the ground for potential clues and watching the area around themselves for trouble. Sara ignored them as she watched the readouts fed from her scanner to her visor display, information scrolling down the left side, keeping the right clear so that she could still see her surroundings.

She moved slowly, sweeping her arm left and right and watching the readouts, looking for anomalies though she wasn't entirely sure what they might be. She was relying on SAM to ping anything strange.

And he did not disappoint.

" _Pathfinder, I detect minute traces of human blood_ ," he announced suddenly, and Sara swept her arm back towards the entrance to Kit's spartan camp site. Sure enough, now highlighted on her display amongst the other jargon, was a line of text that presumably listed the various components of human blood. " _Initiative records match it to Christopher Petras_."

"Kit," Sara breathed. "Well done, SAM."

Liam heard her speak and made his way over to her, rifle held in front of him across his body, aimed at the ground. "You found something?"

"SAM did," Sara corrected, glancing at him. "Blood. Belongs to Kit."

"So he's wounded?" Liam asked. "Badly?"

Sara shook her head. "I don't think so, there's not much. I wouldn't have seen it if SAM hadn't pointed it out."

" _Kadara has recorded no rainfall since Kit was reported missing_ ," SAM spoke through their open comms network for the benefit of all present, " _it is possible further samples could be detected at close proximity_."

"It could lead us to Kit," Sara said, looking at Liam in surprise. She had taken on the task from Rhea but had never expected she would find anything.

"Like a trail of breadcrumbs," Liam added excitedly.

"It could lead us to whatever took Kit," Vetra corrected Sara as she approached them. "We don't know if he's still alive." She halted just in front of Liam and Sara, looking between them both. "Him, or any of the other missing people. Don't forget that we don't know exactly what we're hunting."

"We also don't know if Kit was taken by anything or left of his own accord," Liam pointed out.

"I _really_ don't think he wandered off and hasn't been checking in just for a laugh," Sara replied drily.

"Hey, I'm not saying it's likely, I'm just... You know, saying," Liam shrugged.

"Less saying and more doing!" Peebee said, bounding over to join the group. "Come on, Ryder, get scanning." She motioned for Sara to hurry up.

Sara lifted one eyebrow, then realized Peebee probably couldn't see it through the tinted glass of her visor. "Right..." She said slowly, dodging around the asari and holding out her scanner once more. "You three keep an eye on our surroundings. I don't want to be jumped by scavengers."

* * *

They made slow progress with Sara carefully moving in a grid, following a trail of blood across the hard-packed dirt road towards the foothills of the mountains across the valley from the campsite. The daylight was fading fast, shadows beginning to stretch across the ground as the light took on a golden edge and the temperature steadily dropped.

"This would be so much easier if we knew any good trackers," Liam commented, looking over his shoulder back the way they had come. The Nomad glinted in the dying light, parked by the roadside in the distance, now the size of a toy after they had painstakingly crossed the valley.

"Well, we don't," Sara replied, carefully aiming her scanner at the ground and taking a step forwards.

"It'll be dark soon," Vetra announced, as though the others couldn't sense the rapidly dwindling light source.

"I know, I just... Ugh!" Sara gave a growl of frustration, dropping her arm and staring around herself, at the rocky hill side, at the towering cliff face they had been slowly approaching for the past couple of hours.

"What?" Peebee asked, eyeing her worriedly.

"I can't pick up the rest of the trail," Sara grumbled, reaching up and pulling off her helmet. Her long hair was damp with sweat and she lifted her ponytail to feel the cooling breeze across the back of her neck.

"Well, SAM did say it had been dwindling..." Vetra pointed out fairly. "Maybe the wound sealed? Stopped the blood flow."

"He can't have just disappeared," Sara muttered, ignoring Vetra's comment. She scrutinized the ground in front of herself, crouching down and running her gloved fingers through the grass.

"Unless the monster ate him whole," Peebee suggested.

Liam looked sideways at her, one eyebrow raised. "Yeah, it carried him this far, then unhinged its jaw and swallowed him."

Peebee shrugged. "You don't know, maybe that's exactly what happened!"

"You have _got_ to stop watching those stupid vids," Vetra told them, barely stopping herself from rolling her eyes.

Sara stood up and faced her squad mates. "Spread out and search the area," she ordered. "If we don't find anything within half an hour we'll head back." And Kit and the other victims would remain lost. She didn't need to add that, the others knew already. "Look for anything out of the ordinary. And stay on your guard."

Sara pulled her helmet back on and fastened it as Liam, Peebee and Vetra spread out in a line either side of her with several meters distance between them. Since the last blood spot had pinged on the scanner they had crawled inch by inch in every direction searching for another spot but had found nothing. The trail had ended. It seemed Vetra was right and the wound had sealed, meaning no more blood. But perhaps they could find another trail to follow? Tracks of some kind, maybe. She didn't want to head back to the port empty handed, though at the back of her mind the thought had been there since she agreed to help Rhea. Really, what could they expect to find that Rhea hadn't already considered?

Sara was just bringing her scanner around for another futile sweep of the ground when Peebee called for her attention. "Ryder, over here!"

Sara looked up towards the shout to see Peebee had reached the base of the cliff and was motioning her over. She turned off her scanner and hurried over, followed by Vetra and Liam.

"What've you got?" Sara asked.

"Cave entrance!" Peebee announced excitedly, propping her hands on her hips and grinning. "Looks like it goes pretty deep into the mountain. Absolutely perfect for skulking beasties and their prey."

"Nice work," Sara murmured eyeing up Peebee's find. Viewed from the front it appeared to be a large crack in the rock, much higher than she was tall, but side on she could see it was actually an opening that turned into a long, narrow tunnel. The ground in front of the opening was disturbed. Sara ran the toe of one boot alongside one of the marks.

"Looks like something was dragged here," she remarked. Something heavy had scuffed through dry earth, creating a short trail that ended in the dust that coated the rock floor at the start of the cave entrance.

"Some _thing_ , or some _one_?" Vetra asked pointedly.

"That's not even the best part," Peebee told them smugly. She turned on the torch on her omni-tool and aimed it at the ground just inside the opening, where mud gave way to brown rock. Sara crouched as she saw a smudge of discolouration on the ground.

"Blood?" She asked, activating her scanner again. "SAM?"

SAM was quiet for a moment, then, " _it is a match for Petras_."

Liam gave a low whistle. "Good spot, Peebee."

"I know, I'm thinking of becoming a detective once this whole Archon thing is over," the asari said casually. Sara looked back at her, not entirely sure she was joking.

"We should check this out," she said, rising to her feet.

Vetra heaved a sigh. "I had a feeling you were going to say that."

Peebee eagerly ducked inside first, followed by Liam and Vetra. Sara watched Vetra disappear into the darkness, then squeezed herself through the gap, turning sideways to get inside. Once through she found that, though the corridor was narrow, there was more than enough room either side of herself to walk unhindered, though they would have to move single file. She reached over her shoulder for her assault rifle and flicked on the torch mounted beneath the barrel, bathing the ground at her feet in a white glow.

"How far back does it go?" She asked, raising her voice only enough for Peebee to hear at the head of their line.

"I don't know," Peebee said, and Sara saw the asari's own torch light move as she shrugged. "I just stuck my head in when I saw the gap, I didn't have a proper look."

"And you think you're ready to be a detective?" Liam scoffed.

"Hey, I detected the entrance _and_ the blood," Peebee shot back. "What did _you_ do?"

"Point taken," Liam said.

Sara snorted loudly. "You deserved that."

"You two are like an old married couple at times," Vetra taunted.

"I'd say more like siblings," Sara chuckled, thinking of the way she and Scott mercilessly ribbed each other any chance they got. She felt a pang of sadness, missing her twin terribly.

"There's a drop here, guys," Peebee called back. Sara heard the scuff of boots on rock, then a thud that echoed through an empty space as Peebee's feet hit the floor. The others followed, hopping down from a narrow shelf of Kadara's brown crumbling rock and landing in a small cavern about the size of Sara's quarters back on Tempest. Beams of light danced across uneven rock walls as the group aimed their torches, searching for a way onwards.

"Is this it?" Peebee asked, disappointed.

"No, look," Sara said, torch beam aimed down at the ground across the cavern. There was a small crawlspace, pitch black beyond the cone of her light. She crossed the room and dropped to her knees, leaning down on one elbow and aiming the light through the hole. "There's a sort of corridor. It gets big enough to stand up."

"I _really_ don't think Kit came all this way of his own accord," Peebee said, watching as Sara disappeared through the hole.

"Probably not," Liam agreed.

"Also, small hole at least means your monster is small too," Vetra told them both, before crouching down and wriggling through the hole after Sara.

"That is strangely comforting," Liam said.

"Or not," Peebee replied. "A small monster is kidnapping people and dragging them through a cave system. Maybe it's small enough that you can't see it coming until it's too late, and it must be strong too if it's carrying its prey all this way."

Liam paused as he mulled that over. "Brilliant. Thanks, Peebee. Now I'm creeped out again."

She flashed him an angelic smile.

"Are you two coming?" Vetra hissed from the other side of the hole.

Liam looked at Peebee then gestured to the gap. "After you."

She rolled her eyes and dropped to the floor. "You just wanna stare at my ass."

"Well, actually," Liam replied, getting down onto his knees and pausing to make sure Peebee had moved ahead before he began crawling on his belly after her, "logic says the monster is in the cave ahead of us, so if I go last I'll have a head start on escaping while it chows down on Ryder, then Vetra, then you."

"That's assuming it's already in here," Peebee pointed out. "It could be out hunting, in which case when it comes back it'll eat you first." She climbed to her feet and brushed dirt from her trousers, moving aside so Liam could wriggle free of the hole.

"No, see," he grunted, pulling himself forward on his elbows. "Monsters only come out at night, and it's still day out there."

"A fair point," Peebee conceded, reaching down a hand and helping Liam up.

Sara stared between them both, having been listening to their discussion. "You guys are just..." She paused, trying to find the words.

"Incredible," Vetra deadpanned.

Peebee and Liam turned to find Vetra and Sara stood almost side by side watching them. Beyond the Pathfinder and the turian another corridor of rock stretched away into the darkness, growing wider and higher. The floor was almost smooth, showing signs that water had once flowed through the corridor, but it was long since dry, perhaps had been for millennia.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," Liam decided.

Sara and Vetra exchanged a glance, then wordlessly turned as one and began to slowly make their way along the corridor, torch beams fading into the shadows ahead.

"This system goes on forever..." Sara muttered.

"Just think, how many of the mountains in Kadara have similar cave systems?" Peebee mused. "And how many of those systems do you think kett and other nasties could hide in?"

"Oh, you're just a regular ray of sunshine, aren't you?" Sara said sarcastically over her shoulder.

Peebee shrugged and her torch light bobbed. "Thinking aloud."

"Ryder, has SAM found any more blood spots?" Vetra asked.

"No," Sara replied, shaking her head. "But there's only one way forward, so I'd say we're going in the right direction."

"Ah, but now you've jinxed us!" Peebee told her jokingly.

Sara looked back at her. "That's... not actually a thing, you realize?"

"It is," Liam spoke gravely. "It's written in the laws of the universe. Gravity, matter, light, jinxes..." He counted them off on his fingers.

"That's it!" Sara cried suddenly. "I'm officially banning Liam and Peebee from hanging out!"

"Noted..." Vetra commented drily.

"Can she do that?" Peebee asked Liam, faux nervously.

"I don't think so," he replied with a grin.

Vetra halted suddenly, torchbeam aimed high, light strafing slowly wall to wall, illuminating crags and cracks in the uneven surface of the brown rock.

"What is it?" Sara asked, muscles switching from relaxed to tense in a heartbeat as her finger strayed from the trigger guard of her rifle to the trigger itself, brushing it as though to remind herself where it was.

"I thought I saw something," the turian replied quietly, torchlight dancing across the rock walls and ceiling as she searched in vain for whatever had caught her attention.

The group was silent for a beat, staring along the length of the tunnel, then vetra shook her head and shrugged.

"Maybe it was a bat, or something?" Sara suggested, not quite relaxing as she started to move forwards again.

"Or something," Peebee murmured, eyes still roving the shadows.

"Do they even _have_ bats in Andromeda?" Liam asked, and Peebee glanced down at him, shrugging her shoulders.

"Or I'm getting jumpy," Vetra said reasonably. She felt tense crawling through dark tunnels after some unidentified nefarious beasty that was abducting humans and dragging them through its lair to undoubtedly make a meal of them. She wasn't one to get claustrophobic, to feel nerves at the possibility of danger, but even so she was on edge. It was entirely possible someone else's torchlight had caused the shadows to 'move' and her overactive mind had interpreted it as a much more solid something moving.

"Unlikely!" Liam scoffed. "You're cool as a cucumber."

Vetra paused before asking, "What's a 'cucumber'?"

"It's a salad food," Sara explained.

Vetra looked back at Liam. "Really?" She asked, deadpan.

"Yes, but that's also a human saying," he answered, shooting Sara a dark stare, "for someone who is chill all the time."

"Watch out," Sara said, ignoring the look. "The floor's sloping down here." She leaned back into her heels to compensate for the sudden steep slope, grateful for the grip her heavy boots had on the dusty rock floor. She looked up as she reached the bottom and gave an exasperated sigh. The tunnel split in two several meters ahead. She moved forwards as the others slowly made their way down behind her, and swept her torch beam across the ground, searching for clues as to which way they needed to go. But the rock gave no tracks or signs of any kind.

"I _did_ say you'd jinx us..." Peebee spoke from behind her.

Sara merely grunted in response, aiming her torch down first one corridor and then the other, hoping to see a dead end. The cone of white simply showed rock walls marching away into shadow. One seemed narrower with a lower ceiling, but both continued on for some way.

"We'll have to split up," Sara said, turning to face the others.

"I knew you'd say that," Liam grumbled. "Have you not seen many horror movies? That's the worst thing you can do."

"Aw, are you scared?" Sara teased him, flashing a grin that was lost within her helmet.

"Don't worry, I'll keep him safe," Peebee said with a smirk as she propped one hand on her hip.

"I'm a big boy, I can look after myself," Liam replied, squaring his shoulders.

Sara grinned at that. "Okay, you two take the right fork," she said, indicating one tunnel with a nod of her head. "If you find... Whatever it is we're looking for try and hold off on engaging until we can regroup and figure out _what_ it is. Stay in contact."

"Yes ma'am!" Peebee replied, already moving off down the right-hand tunnel.

"Happy hunting," Liam told Sara and Vetra before following the asari. Sara tried not to view it as a prophecy as she turned away and began moving along the second tunnel. There was room enough to stand straight, but the walls were so narrow they had to walk single file. If it came to a fight, they wouldn't be able to manoeuvre at all. Sara hoped things didn't come to that.

" _Pathfinder_ ," SAM spoke through their omni-tools so everyone could hear, " _the further into the cave system you move, the more interference I am detecting to your comms. Short range communications appear untouched, but connection to anything outside of the mountain is poor_. _Similarly, it is affecting my ability to detect your surroundings. I am 'blind' as you would put it._ " Brilliant. No scans available.

"Something is jamming us?" Sara asked, exchanging a look with Vetra.

" _I believe so_ ," SAM replied.

" _I guess we're on our own, then_ ," Liam's voice spoke into Sara's ear inside her helmet, tinny through the speakers.

"We definitely have company down here," Vetra replied, casting a suspicious look down the length of the tunnel past Sara. She felt watched and it was making her skin crawl.

" _Well, there's a cheery thought_ ," Peebee said.

"Let's just keep moving," Sara said with authority. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can leave."

" _Got it_ ," Liam said, and a burst of static announced him closing the channel.

"This place is giving me the creeps," Sara muttered to Vetra.

"You and me both," the turian replied grimly.

Sara hated her field of view being limited to the white beam of light thrown out by her torch, hated the way shadows shifted and rippled across the uneven walls and ceiling around her as she swept the light across the rock. A ceiling that was gradually creeping lower with each step, and walls that were slowly starting to grow narrower. It was making her feel claustrophobic. Her helmet felt stifling but she dare not remove it for fear of whatever cthonic beast might be lurking within the shadows with them. She would cling to whatever protection she could.

A sharp tapping sound made her freeze, and Vetra bumped into the back of her. Sara's torch flicked down towards the sound as a series of rattles echoed through the tunnel. A shard of rock skittered across the ground, having fallen from up high. Her torch jerked upwards, searching for some creature lurking amongst ancient stalactites along the ceiling, long dry. She saw nothing, finally released the breath she hadn't even realized she had been holding.

"I swear," Sara said after a moment, "if I die down here because the ceiling caved in, I'm going to be so mad."

"We can haunt the Tempest together," Vetra said humorously. "Or Sloane, you know, as punishment for not seeing us sooner?" Sara shook her head with a smile and moved onwards, lifting one arm and activating her omni-tool. She opened the channel between herself and Liam and Peebee.

* * *

" _Comms check_!" Sara's voice announced from Peebee and Liam's omni-tools.

"Receiving, loud and clear," Peebee replied. Her torchlight pooled against the wall beside her as she lifted her arm to speak, omni-tool gauntlet filling the corridor with an orange glow, as though they walked through a lava tube. Her torch gleamed bright white, glaring against the rock.

"Nothing to report, yet," Liam added.

" _Okay, we'll check in again soon. Ryder out_."

"You know," Peebee said, holding out her arm again to illuminate the path ahead, "I'm starting to wonder if these tunnels just go right through the mountain and out the other side."

"If that's the case, we have a long walk ahead," Liam replied.

Peebee huffed out a frustrated sigh. She already felt as though they had been traipsing through the tunnels for days, with nothing to see except dusty brown rock above, below, and at each side. There were no tracks to follow, no sign of any kind of monster... She didn't want to admit it, considering she was on a rescue mission of sorts, but she was bored.

"I spy with my little eye-"

"That's not happening," Liam interrupted.

Peebee sighed again, throwing in a growl of frustration for good measure. They slipped into silence, the only sound their footsteps, echoing strangely in the dark. Chill air caressed Peebee's skin, faintly damp and smelling musty. The tunnel seemed to stretch on forever, her torch never able to touch the edge of the shadows.

She was starting to feel hungry now, as well. How long had they been underground? Could have been minutes, or hours, or _days_ already. And Liam had stopped talking to her, though she suspected that was through nerves. He was currently exuding an air of tension, most likely a result of thinking too deeply about their discussion on horror movies.

Peebee uttered yet another bored sigh and began swinging her torch from side to side as she walked until it made her dizzy and she was forced to stop.

"What was that?" Liam asked sharply, halting in his tracks behind her.

"What was what?" Peebee demanded, pausing to turn and look at him.

"I heard something..." Liam looked back the way they had come, torch beam aimed down the tunnel.

"I swear, Liam, if you're just trying to scare me..."

"I'm serious!" Liam insisted, not looking back at her.

Peebee glared at him but said nothing. They both stood staring down the corridor, ears and eyes straining in the darkness. Liam could feel his pulse throbbing in his throat, a feeling of trepidation crawling over him, oil slick and icy cold. He felt hunted, he realized, like he was being watched and could sense the presence of his hunter but couldn't see it.

"There's nothing there, Liam," Peebee grumbled. "Come on." She nudged him in the ribs with one elbow and turned away to continue their trek through the tunnel.

He heard Peebee's startled gasp behind him, but, before he even had time to turn, he felt pain explode inside his skull. Stars burst across his vision and Liam crumpled, one thought pushing through the pain and the encroaching darkness: it found us.

And then he thought of nothing.

* * *

"This is ridiculous," Vetra complained, crawling on her hands and knees behind Sara. Their tunnel had seemed to shrink on itself until they were forced to crawl.

"Yeah, but you get to stare at my butt," Sara replied. "I've been told I have a cute butt."

"It's cute that you think so highly of yourself," Vetra shot back.

"Ouch..." Sara chuckled, hearing the teasing tone in the turian's voice. "Okay, stop."

Vetra halted, head tilting inquisitively to one side as Sara stopped ahead of her and sat back on her heels as much as the low ceiling would allow. "What's wrong?"

"I doubt anyone would drag a fully grown man through here," Sara admitted. She had thought the tunnel would open up after a couple of meters, maybe even deposit them into a cavern, but no such luck. They had been crawling for a while with no sign of the end of the tiny tunnel. "And if they did, I'd expect to see signs. I'm not exactly bulky and my helmet's scraped marks along the rock."

"Yeah, and I think I left some skin back there too," Vetra added. Her head still smarted where she had cracked it against a bulge of rock. She rubbed a claw against the bony plating at the top of her head. She had hit it _hard_ and Sara had laughed hysterically for a good minute.

"So, we should head back and meet up with the others." Sara managed to squash herself into a ball and shuffled awkwardly in a circle until she was facing the lanky turian. "Turn around."

Vetra stared at her as though she were mad. "I can't turn around, there's no room!"

"So go backwards," Sara rolled her eyes.

Vera's mandibles twitched in annoyance as she shoved herself backwards, scrambling along the tiny tunnel with as much dignity as she could while Sara stared at her the whole time, most probably with that damn cocky smirk of hers lifting one corner of her mouth. It was much harder going backwards and she was starting to feel out of breath by the time she was free of the confines of that ridiculous tube. Still, while she could finally stand up, she had to hunch her shoulders to avoid hitting her head on the rocky roof.

She watched Sara awkwardly wriggle out at her feet and couldn't help a snort. "Oh, if humanity could see their Pathfinder now..." She teased while stretching her arms out to either side of herself, a luxury after the cramped confines of the previous tunnel.

"Shuttit," Sara muttered, shoving herself up onto her knees and leaving her gun on the ground in front of herself, within easy reach, as she activated her omni-tool. "Comms check," she announced to Liam and Peebee. Orange light reflected off her helmet faceplate as they waited for the reply. And waited. Sara glanced up at vetra, feeling a sense of unease settle heavily in the pit of her stomach. "Comms check," she spoke again. Vetra shifted her weight, watching Sara worriedly.

Sara glanced down at the display on her gauntlet, tapping her finger against the glowing green light that insisted the signal was strong. "Peebee? Liam?" Her stomach tightened as she listened, hoping for a response. And then the green light vanished, to be replaced by the 'signal lost' icon. A chill ran through the Pathfinder. "SAM is something interfering with comms?"

" _No, Pathfinder_ ," SAM replied, " _there is no response from either Peebee or Liam's omni-tools. They have either been deactivated or destroyed_."

Sara snatched up her gun and bolted to her feet. There was no reason they would have turned off their omni-tools, unless they wanted to avoid comms traffic, or being tracked. She dare not consider SAM's second suggestion.

"We need to head back to the fork and go after them," Sara announced, pushing her way passed Vetra and hurrying back along the tunnel.

"I agree," Vetra said, heading after her, "but we're rushing headlong into the unknown."

"That's what we do," Sara replied without slowing. "It's like the Initiative's motto or something."

"Definitely. I just suggest we rush slightly more cautiously."

"Noted."

* * *

"There's the fork," Sara called back to Vetra, running now towards the 'end' of the tunnel, where it merged with the one Peebee and Liam had taken, branching off from the tunnel they had followed inside the mountain. She skidded out into the main tunnel, turning the corner too fast to try and maintain her momentum to run along Peebee and Liam's path. Her shoulder crashed into the wall and she stumbled forward a step, gritting her teeth as she felt the impact down her arm.

"So, I guess stealth isn't an option?" Vetra remarked drily, jogging after her.

Sara scowled. Oh, if the Nexus residents could see their precious Pathfinder now, the beacon of hope skulking through narrow tunnels after the missing members of her fireteam that _she_ sent off into danger.

"You're glaring, aren't you?" Vetra chuckled, reading the sulky set of the human's shoulders.

"Come on," Sara muttered, stalking off along the corridor and only just suppressing the urge to rub her aching shoulder.

They continued in silence, a sense of unease falling over them both like a stifling blanket. The thing they had been attempting to follow had apparently been following them. Or, at least, it had been following Peebee and Liam and now they were MIA... Sara prayed to every deity she had ever heard of that she wasn't about to find her friends sprawled dead in the tunnel...

Something glinted in the distance, causing Sara to freeze and bring her gun to her shoulder.

"What is it?" Vetra asked, adjusting her grip on her own weapon as Sara hesitated.

"Not sure..." The Pathfinder murmured, inching forwards. Her torch was reflecting off something metallic, something on the floor just on the edge of the beam of light. Her brain struggled to make sense of the shape at first, but then she understood. "I think it's a gun." Sara strode towards the object, jogging as she grew near and recognized it. She crouched down and picked up the rifle. "It's Liam's," She said grimly, checking the ammo count. "Doesn't look like he fired it." She lifted it over her shoulder, holstering it against her shoulder blade in place of her own gun. "And there, look," She reached forwards as she saw a second fallen weapon, fingers closing around the grip. "Peebee's pistol," she said as she lifted it and rose to her feet.

"They must have been taken by surprise," Vetra commented, taking the pistol from Sara and inspecting it.

"Right," Sara muttered in agreement, turning slowly on the spot and sweeping the floors and walls with her torch, searching for signs of... Anything. Any clue as to what had happened to her comrades.

Vetra pushed passed her suddenly, holstering Peebee's weapon at her hip before stretching up both hands and gripping something above her head.

"Uh... What're you doing...?" Sara asked in confusion, watching as Vetra hauled herself up and stuck her head in a gap in the rock close to the ceiling that Sara hadn't noticed before. "What is that?"

Vetra managed to jam her arm into the gap with her head, aiming her torch beam inside the hole. As the interior was illuminated, she let out a low whistle.

"What?" Sara demanded impatiently.

Vetra carefully freed herself and dropped back down, dusting off her palms on her trousers. "It's a tiny crawlspace carved out of the rock," she explained. "It runs parallel to this tunnel, heading both ways."

Sara stared at her in silence for a moment, thinking the statement through. "Carved like... Like by a giant worm?" God, were they being hunted by some kind of monstrous snake-beast?

Vetra shook her head. "Carved like by a machine, or tools." The turian paused. "Or maybe a giant worm, who knows in Andromeda?" She shrugged.

Sara glanced up at the hole near the ceiling, hidden by shadows and protruding rock, then along the length of the tunnel they were following. "Maybe whatever attacked Liam and Peebee came out of that," she jerked her head up at the hole, "but it didn't haul them up into it. I don't think Liam would even _fit_. So, let's keep following the tunnel." And maybe she would find her friends at the end of it. Alive.

They jogged onwards, saying nothing as they followed the path Peebee and Liam had to have been taken along. The ground sloped gradually upwards, arcing away to the left so that the end of the tunnel was out of sight.

"Do you hear that?" Vetra asked quietly after a while.

"Yeah," Sara replied, matching her soft tone. She could hear a quiet humming sound, just on the edge of hearing. Something strangely familiar. Something universal in any galaxy, or so it seemed. "It sounds like portable generators." Something about that didn't sit well with her.

The sound grew louder as they progressed through the tunnel and as they neared Sara noted a faint glow in the darkness ahead. "There's a light," she told Vetra.

"At the end of the tunnel?" The turian asked light heartedly. "Well, that's got to be a bad omen."

Sara made no response, slowing her pace until she was creeping along the tunnel. She turned out the torch mounted beneath her gun barrel, and a few seconds later Vetra killed her own torch, plunging them into semi-darkness. They had to be nearing the hunter now, and it would be expecting them.

They moved forwards painfully slowly, senses alert for any signs of danger. Sara strained her ears, trying to listen for sounds of Peebee and Liam's attacker, for signs that Vetra and herself were being hunted. All she could hear was the blood rushing in her ears and the sound of her breath, her helmet making it sound far louder than it really was. She stepped carefully, her boots moving near silently over the rocky ground. Her father had taught her how to move stealthily, forcing her to try again and again for days until she could finally sneak up on him. She had hated it at the time but had to admit it had proved itself a useful skill.

Behind her, Vetra moved as a ghost. Sara had to glance over her shoulder to make sure the turian was still following her. She faced forwards again and was forced to squint as she rounded the corner and the light source finally revealed itself to be a glaringly bright standing lamp, bathing a cavern in white light. A portable generator sat against the wall beside it, humming with power.

Sara blinked in the light, taking a step further into the cavern and staring around herself in confusion. It was like she had wandered into someone's campsite, deep within the mountain. One corner of the cavern had a low ceiling, where the rock had sloped down almost to the floor. Here she could see a mess of blankets and a pillow, where someone obviously slept. Several large metal boxes were stacked against one wall with various cooking utensils piled beside them. Heleus tech mixed with Nexus tech to create some sort of bizarre living space. There was an opening in the wall opposite, another tunnel, that had a ragged blanket hanging over it, strung up on a metal pole that had been driven into the walls, like a curtain dividing rooms.

"Someone _lives_ here..." Sara stated needlessly.

Vetra said nothing as she moved passed her to investigate the room, finding her way over to the metal containers. She lifted a lid gingerly with one hand and peered curiously inside. Cool air spilled out, brushing passed her fingers and carrying a faintly coppery scent. She paused to survey the contents of the box, then carefully lowered the lid and turned to Sara, mandibles bunching then releasing as she fought to keep her expression neutral. "I think I found the missing colonists."

Sara glanced over, looking from Vetra to the boxes. They were large, but too small for a fully-grown adult human to fit inside, and so that meant...

She swallowed hard, feeling her stomach tremor with revulsion. "Oh." The puzzle was beginning to take shape, the picture starting to become clearer, though she wished it wouldn't. Her mind stubbornly pushed back against the answers. She looked back at Vetra and met the turian's grim stare. Vetra nodded towards the curtain and together they crossed the cavern towards it. They paused either side of the opening with their shoulders to the rock, Sara holding her gun at the ready, and Vetra reaching out, ready to rip the curtain aside. Sara nodded her head once. Vetra grabbed a fistful of rough, heavy fabric and yanked it sideways. Sara ducked through the opening and found herself in a low tunnel less than a metre long that sloped down into another cavern lit by a lamp like the room they had just left. She heard Vetra follow her through and so started down the slope.

The second cavern was wider and taller than the first, the single standing light barely able to illuminate it fully. Sara didn't notice that though, as she was focused on the large metal cage that dominated the far wall. Thick bars formed walls and a ceiling around four people. One was a tall, lean man unmistakably Rhea's brother, chained to the wall by steel manacles around his wrists. A deep cut somewhere in his hairline had bled freely, leaving a smear of dried blood streaking forehead to jaw. Long chains passed through a metal loop driven into the wall and linked the heavy cuffs about his wrists. Beside him, hugging her knees to her chest as much as she could with hands bound in front of her by rough rope, was a small, skinny, dark-haired woman, who bolted to her feet as she saw Sara and Vetra and stared wide-eyed at them. The other two were Sara's missing fireteam members. Peebee lay on her side, unconscious and hogtied with rope. Liam sat with his back to the wall, his hands tied tightly in front of himself. He scrambled to his feet, wincing at the flare of pain that caused in the back of his head, and lurched towards the bars that formed the cage door.

"You took your time!" He said playfully.

"Traditionally when staging a rescue you're not supposed to get captured yourself," Sara shot back with a smirk as she and Vetra crossed the cavern. "Is Peebee okay?"

"Unconscious," Liam replied. "I can't wake her. She got zapped with something."

"She could break us out if she was awake," Kit said, struggling to his feet. The chains rattled as he moved.

"Can you get us out?" The woman asked nervously, dark eyes darting from Sara, to the tunnel, to Vetra.

"Absolutely," Sara said with enough self-assurance to soothe the woman somewhat. "I'm Sara Ryder, Pathfinder with the Initiative," she introduced herself. Kit and the woman exchanged a look of surprise. "What's your name?" She asked quickly, before the usual questions could start about the Nexus suddenly finding one of its missing Pathfinders. They could ask their questions later. Outside. With the wide-open sky above them. Sara was _not_ enjoying the sensation of being cooped up inside a cave system with some kind of killer/stalker combo on the loose with them.

"Alda," the woman answered anxiously. She seemed to do everything anxiously, though Sara really couldn't blame her considering the circumstances.

"And you must be Kit?" She asked the man, who nodded his head once.

Vetra moved away to investigate the rest of the cavern while Sara took care of the cage and its inhabitants.

Beside the cage, infuriatingly only just out of reach for those trapped behind the bars even if they had had their hands free, was a shelf carved out of the rock wall. On it was stuffed omni-tools, jewelry, small weapons.

"Trophies," Vetra muttered darkly, picking up a small knife and running a claw along the curved blade, testing the edge. She tossed it back amongst the pile in disgust and turned back towards the tunnel that joined the two caverns, guarding it while Sara went down on one knee in front of the cage door.

She left her gun on the ground beside her knee, within easy reach, and leaned forward to inspect the locking mechanism on the door, a rectangular keypad that glowed with a faint orange light.

"It's a mag lock," Kit told her. "You won't brute force it open until your friend wakes up." Sara looked up at him and met his dark gaze briefly, then to Peebee, still out cold in the corner.

"Maybe SAM can hack it?" Liam suggested.

"Whatever you do _hurry_ ," Alda begged frantically. "He's still here somewhere, and he knows you're here too!" Her eyes roved the cavern, as though He could be hiding amongst them even now.

"Who?" Sara asked, dialling up the scanner on her omni-tool to give SAM a go at the keypad.

"The bastard that's been eating us," Kit growled furiously. Sara's fingers stilled over her gauntlet. She had known, of course- it was obvious, viewing each piece of the puzzle as a whole- but to hear it said out loud sent a shiver crawling down the length of her spine, icy cold and lingering.

"Us...?" Sara queried, though she didn't want to. She knew there had been more people, more missing humans from the Badlands, and Vetra had found... Bits of them packed away in containers like meat bought at market. She looked up at Kit, who opened his mouth to elaborate, but before he could talk the cavern was plunged into darkness. Sara's gauntlet and the glow from the keypad were suddenly the only source of illumination. She heard a startled gasp from Alda, the scrape of feet scrambling backwards, the clink of chains as Kit moved uncertainly, the quiet sound of the generator still providing power in one corner.

Sara snatched up her gun as she rose to her feet and whirled around, thumbing the switch for the torch mounted under the barrel. Vetra squinted in the sudden blaze of white, midway through activating her own torch. A shadow detached itself from the ceiling and landed behind Vetra with an unnatural silence, eyes flaring silver briefly as it fell. Sara saw a flash of claws as it prepared to strike the turian. She had no time to shout, only act, and launched herself at Vetra. She aimed low, her shoulder connecting hard with Vetra's stomach and sending her sprawling backwards as the attacker's arm arced downward. Sara brought her own arm up to protect herself, felt something glance off the hard metal of her gauntlet and slash across the heavy fabric between armour plates. She hissed at the sudden burning pain of a blade biting through skin, felt the heat of blood welling. She retaliated instantly, swinging her gun around and slamming the butt blindly into the shadow. It grunted and stumbled sideways, and Sara followed it, lashing out with one foot, feeling her boot connect to a knee. The shadow crashed to the floor, landing on its back. Sara planted a foot on its chest and shone her torch into its face. The light flashed silver from the lenses of a pair of goggles and a very human man gave a yelp of pain and clawed them off, screwing his eyes shut against the light. He held his hands either side of his head in a universal sign of surrender.

Sara waited a moment, feeling the aftershock of adrenaline coursing through her; a racing pulse, breath coming short and sharp. "The light," she demanded, "where are the controls?" In her peripheral she saw Vetra climbing to her feet.

"My omni-tool," the man answered, gesturing with one finger to his wrist. Sara saw the silver flash of the knife he had dropped nearby during his fall, the blade horribly jagged. Vetra kicked it aside while training her pistol on the man.

"Bring it back," Sara growled. As he began to slowly reach for his omni-tool cuff, Sara jabbed her gun downwards, the barrel almost touching his face. The man flinched. "Don't try anything."

He hesitated at the dangerous tone, then carefully tapped the cuff to wake up his gauntlet, and swiped once. The light in the corner blazed to life. Sara felt her stomach clench as she found herself staring into the face of a man in his early thirties with eyes so dark they seemed almost black and a wolfish grin made all the more grotesque by a mouthful of teeth filed to points.

"Hello, Pathfinder," he said pleasantly.

Sara grit her teeth, and fought to keep her finger against her trigger guard. Her skin crawled and she struggled to keep her eyes on his. "If you so much as blink without my permission, I will not hesitate to shoot you," she said stiffly. "We clear?"

"Crystal," he told her, though didn't seem particularly threatened by her. She had felt his wiry strength while they fought, however briefly. He wore a sleek black jumpsuit, with a black scarf about his neck. The goggles he had been wearing when he attacked must have had some sort of night-vision function, and his weapon of choice, the knife, seemed almost claw-like. It was easy to see how people could mistake this figure for something supernatural in origin.

"So, you're the monster out stalking the Badlands, then," Sara stated.

"I suppose I am."

"Tell me the code to open the cage," she demanded.

The man leered at her. "You didn't say 'please'."

Sara leaned down on her foot until he gave a yelp of pain. "The code."

He grit his ruined teeth and hissed angrily up at her. "Did you try 1234?" He asked, expression patronizing.

Sara paused, wondering if he was teasing her or being serious. She decided to assume the latter first. "Vetra?" She said without looking away from him. She heard Vetra move forwards, then the muted beeping as she jabbed the buttons with one claw and entered the code. There was a buzz and then the door released.

"Seriously?" Vetra asked in disbelief. "And no one thought to try that?"

"No one had their hands free," Kit reminded her sourly.

Sara stepped back from the man on the floor. "On your knees," she ordered.

"Is this the part where the brilliant Pathfinder serves justice?" He asked with a sneer, folding his arms over his chest.

Sara was beginning to find his indifference unnerving. "This is the part where the brilliant Pathfinder ties you up and drags you off to see Sloane," she snapped. "If she can find rope."

Vetra had stepped inside the cage to help the others but seemed to think better of it as she made her way back to Sara, brushing a claw against the safety on her pistol but not taking it off. "I'll find rope," she offered.

"Wait, wait, wait," the man spoke quickly, looking suddenly anxious. Vetra halted beside Sara. "Please don't take me back to Sloane, she'll cut off my head, mount it on a pike!" Sara hesitated. She really didn't like Sloane's brand of 'justice'. It was brutal, uncivilized.

"Are you kidding?" Kit called out. "At least she won't fucking serve you up for supper!"

"I was exiled! I had to survive somehow!"

"You're the only one of us out in the Badlands that eats _people_!" Alda shot back in a rare moment of feistiness.

"I don't agree with Sloane's methods," Sara began loudly as the man opened his mouth to retort, "but I have no jurisdiction here. And maybe neither does Sloane. The Badlands are outside the port."

"Thank you, Pathfinder!" He reached gratefully for Sara's hand.

She jerked herself backwards with a look of disgust. "Don't touch me." But something was wrong. This display of gratitude was at odds with his earlier arrogance.

As he reached for her again Vetra rammed the barrel of her pistol into his temple, freezing him on the spot. "Drop it," her voice was cold iron.

His features distorted into a snarl and he lunged at Vetra, a jagged blade appearing in his hand. A single gunshot echoed throughout the cavern and he lurched sideways as a bullet drilled through his skull. He landed face down on the rocky ground and lay still.

Vetra glanced at Sara as she lowered her rifle, looking down at the man she had just killed, expression dark. "Guess I'm no better than Sloane," she muttered, not even feeling a flicker of remorse.

"Hey, he went for me, I'd rather you shot first than wait for him to stick me with that rusty thing." Vetra said,

jerking her head at the knife gripped loosely in his hand.

"He deserved far worse," Kit spat.

"Could someone untie us now?" Liam asked. "I can't feel my fingers..."

Sara reached over one shoulder to holster her rifle, then crossed the room towards the cage, calling up an omni-blade to deal with the rope binding three of the prisoners.

Peebee woke as Sara was cutting Liam free. The asari attempted to sit up but found herself unable to thanks to the coils of rope around her body. She surveyed first herself, then the cage she was in, and finally looked to Sara midway through sawing through Liam's bonds. She opened her mouth to speak, but halted as her eyes moved passed her colleagues to land on Kit, still chained to the wall. Vetra stood beside him inspecting the chains, while Alda had left the cage to rummage through the pile of trophies nearby, searching for her omni-tool cuff.

"Okay, what the Hell?" Peebee demanded.

"It's a long story," Sara said, pulling severed rope from Liam's wrists. "I'll fill you in later."

Liam gave a contented sigh as he began to massage the feeling back into his hands and Sara made her way over to Peebee to help free her.

"Some exiled exile went psycho and started abducting people and eating them. Ryder killed him," Kit told her.

"Apparently not that long," Peebee teased. Sara rolled the asari onto her front. "Ow! Hey, careful. He drugged me, ya know? Snuck up and shot a dart in my throat, sneaky bastard. I don't feel that great so some sympathy wouldn't go amiss."

Sara paused in cutting the rope to gently pat the top of Peebee's head. "There, there."

Peebee huffed into the ground, then coughed at the resultant puff of dust. "Brilliant, Ryder. Thanks."

"Think you're up to giving us a biotic barrier?" Vetra asked her. Peebee glanced up at her, lying still as Sara shredded the rope and the tension began to leave her straining shoulders and hips.

Vetra drew her pistol and motioned to Kit's bonds. "Gonna have to shoot out one of the links," she explained. "We'll have to wait until we're back at the port to cut the manacles off."

"No," Sara shook her head, helping Peebee to sit up. "I'll call Tempest when we're back outside, we can fly to Port. Gil will have something to get through the cuffs."

"What're you in chains for anyway?" Liam asked curiously. "Everyone else gets rope."

Kit gave a mischievous grin. "Caused too much trouble."

"Kit kept trying to overpower _him_ ," Alda shot the corpse in the centre of the cavern a distasteful look, "so He beat him and chained him." She snapped an omni-tool cuff around her wrist and turned to the group. "Could we leave? Please..." She crossed her arms over her chest, holding herself as she glanced about the cavern and shivered.

"Of course," Liam said, at once becoming Liam-the-crisis-specialist and making his way over to her.

"Peebee?" Vetra jerked her head at Kit, stepping back and taking aim at the chains.

* * *

SAM identified the man as one Elias Blackwood, exiled from the Nexus for violence during the Uprising, and, apparently, according to Kit, exiled from Kadara Port, though for what he couldn't say. Sara opted to leave Elias and the caverns as they had found them. Sloane could send a team to investigate and hopefully identify at least _some_ of the victims. Sara would insist.

Outside the tunnels the sky was clear, dusted with stars that Sara couldn't yet recognize. She kept her torch on, aimed at the ground, as they walked back down the slope, through blessedly spongey dirt and grass instead of unyielding rock, heading for the Nomad still parked by the roadside.

Liam tipped his head back and closed his eyes, breathing deep through his nose with a grin. "Ah, fresh air and open skies!" He cried blissfully.

"There's nothing fresh about the air in this place," Peebee muttered, wrinkling her nose at the scent of Sulphur carried on wind from bubbling pools of water ringed with yellow, and natural chimneys spewing gas. She felt woozy from her time spent in a drug-induced sleep and the rotten-egg-scent set her stomach roiling.

"Don't relax just yet," Sara warned them. "We still have to wait for Tempest in the Badlands."

"Calling it in," Vetra said, dialling up her omni-tool and connecting to the Tempest.

"We should get you two into the Nomad while we wait," Sara spoke to Kit and Alda, as Vetra requested an extraction. She gestured to the hulking beast of a vehicle glinting in the light of so many stars. "It's still dangerous out here."

"You forget that you're the strangers out here," Kit told her good naturedly, trailing chains behind himself. Vetra had only risked firing one shot into the metal, severing the links at the midpoint to free him. He still had a good meter of metal swinging from the cuffs and dragging through the grass, but he didn't seem to mind. "We know how the Badlands work."

Alda caught Sara's eye and awkwardly lifted a hand, "I'll feel safer in the Nomad."

Sara nodded, moving ahead of the group as they neared the vehicle, to open the doors. She helped Alda climb inside and get settled in the rear passenger seat, then turned to Kit. "You should call your sister," she suggested. "She's worried about you."

"Of course she's worried," Peebee said, hoisting herself up onto the nose of the Nomad and sitting there cross legged. "He was abducted by a flesh-eating fake monster!"

Sara rolled her eyes at Peebee's comment, but Kit laughed. "She has a point..." He said fairly.

"Don't encourage her," Sara muttered.

"Tempest is on its way," Vetra informed them, keen eyes scanning their surroundings for scavengers or other beasties lurking in the shadow.

"I'll call Rhea," Kit nodded at Sara. "She'll probably want to meet me at the port."

He moved off to the side for some privacy, his newly returned omni-tool flaring orange in the dark. Liam had joined Alda inside the Nomad to keep her company, she could hear them talking quietly, Liam working miracles and keeping her calm. Vetra stood beside Sara, watching Kit briefly before looking sideways at the Pathfinder. "I've asked for Lexi to be ready when Tempest arrives," she said, and Sara grunted in response. "Alda and Kit will need a medical examination, and Peebee and Liam need to be checked out." Sara glanced up at the turian, sensing more. Vetra paused before saying, "you should have Lexi look at your arm."

And there it was.

Sara sighed and shook her head. "I'm _fine_ , Vetra, it's just a scratch." The blue of her under-armour sleeve was torn and stained red with blood. The offending wound was throbbing, matching her pulse. She knew it had gone fairly deep, but it was nothing to worry about. She had had worse.

"With a dirty blade coated in who-knows-what?" Vetra countered.

Sara made no reply, turning her attention instead to Kit as he approached them.

"Rhea says she'll speak with Sloane in the morning," he said with a smile. "She'll make sure you get your meeting right away, Pathfinder. You can count on it." He clapped a hand to her shoulder, chains clanking against Sara's armour, causing him to give an awkward wince. "Oops, sorry..."

"Don't be," Sara replied genuinely. "We'll get them off you soon enough."

She could see in the distance, the pinprick white lights of her ship approaching. The sleek shape of Tempest glided towards them, hull plating gleaming as it flew in low.

"Peebee, off the Nomad," Sara ordered. "Vetra, get ready to drive it into the hold."

Vetra climbed into the driver seat and closed the doors as Peebee slid off the front and landed lightly on her feet, sauntering over to Sara's side and watching the ship come in.

Kit gave a low whistle of appreciation as the Tempest grew larger and clearer. "That is some ship..."

"It is," Sara smiled proudly, watching as it finally touched down nearby. No guidance, no landing platform. Kallo didn't need that. The cargo bay doors slid open, revealing a square of bright white light, almost blinding in the gloom. She could see Lexi waiting just inside. "Let's go, folks," Sara said, heading towards the landing ramp. "I officially declare this rescue mission a success!"


	14. Nocturnal

**A/N: Because imposter syndrome is a piece of shit**

* * *

The door onto the bridge whispered softly as the heavy metal panel slid aside and Sara strode through, holding two steaming mugs in her hands, one of coffee and one of tea. She saw Suvi turn in her chair to look over one shoulder at her in surprise. It was, after all, the middle of the night. Sara gave a sloped smile, eyes playful. "I thought I heard someone in here," she said by way of explanation.

"Hi! Yes," Suvi replied, watching Sara approach. The Pathfinder wore her black combat boots, laces trailing, and her cargo trousers and a fitted Andromeda Initiative long sleeved T, clothes she had been wearing when she retired to her quarters for the night several hours ago. Suvi glanced at the time displayed on her console, then back to Sara with a look of utmost confusion. "Um, I don't mean to be rude but..." she hesitated, then pressed on, "what are you doing here, Ryder? It's almost 3am!" As far as Suvi knew she was the only member of crew awake. Duties were somewhat…relaxed while they were docked in Kadara Port.

"Well, it's my ship, I can go where I want when I want," Sara told her jokingly with a small shrug. "I couldn't sleep, too wired. Thought maybe you could use tea and company?" She held out one of the mugs, looking hopeful. Suvi smiled and took it gratefully. She knew SAM had probably told a sleepless Sara that their resident science officer was still up, knew it was more likely that Sara was the one who wanted company and had come looking. She felt a flicker of pride at being sought out by the object of her affections, hoped it didn't show on her face. "I thought maybe you couldn't sleep either?" Sara continued, thankfully oblivious.

"Thank you," the redhead said with a smile, holding her mug in both hands. "I've been going through some of the data SAM collated during your…excursion in the Badlands." She saw Sara wince faintly. Suvi had seen the mission report Sara had filed and had been horrified at its contents. A cannibalistic exile? How had he passed the Initiative's screening? Though, she supposed, a lot of murderous criminals had apparently slipped through the cracks and come along for the ride to Andromeda, if Kadara's inhabitants were anything to go by. "I suppose I lost track of time…" She had settled into her workstation hours ago. Outside, through the wide window that wrapped around the bridge, she could see the Kadara docks were still and empty of people. The lights in the tiny building that served as a kind of customs office had long since gone dark, leaving only the small round lights that ran in regular intervals along the edge of each landing platform, little beacons of white in the gloom that illuminated the underside of several other ships and shuttles. She looked away from the window to eye up the mug Sara held in one hand as the Pathfinder sipped at it, blue eyes flicking away from the window to meet Suvi's, and knew without asking that the mug contained coffee. Probably black and strong enough to wake the dead.

"You can't sleep so you made yourself coffee?" She asked, twitching a teasing eyebrow but not quite committing to the jest. Sara was the Pathfinder, effectively her boss, and Suvi didn't feel entirely comfortable taunting her the way some of the others did, though Sara seemed to thrive off the banter.

Sara scoffed, "did you expect me to make tea instead?"

As far as Suvi knew, Sara had never had a cup of tea in all her time as Pathfinder aboard Tempest. "You should! It's better!" She insisted.

Sara pulled a face, scrunching up her nose and shaking her head adamantly. "No, tea tastes weird."

"Coffee is bitter and makes me jittery," Suvi replied fairly. "Tea is..." She paused, searching for the words. "Earthy and comforting," she finished, breathing in the warm steam from her mug and smiling to herself.

Sara arched one eyebrow. "You're really going to describe something as 'earthy' to try and get me to drink it?"

Suvi gave a half laugh. "If you tried it with an open-mind you'd like it."

"Maybe tomorrow," Sara said after some consideration.

"Later?" Suvi asked playfully, considering the lateness of the hour. "Or tomorrow?"

Sara grinned at her. "We'll see."

"You should really be sleeping," Suvi told her, looking worried. "You have your meeting with Sloane tomorrow. The Initiative files on her suggest she's quite a handful. You'll want to be sharp…"

"I think I can handle a disgruntled exile," Sara replied with a smirk.

Suvi smiled wryly. "I don't doubt that," she admitted. It was Sara's tendency to shirk diplomacy in favour of sass and bravado that worried her. "Just…Don't give her an excuse to mount your head on a spike."

"Aw, are you worried about me?" Sara teased, a wide grin spreading over her face.

"Of course," Suvi said awkwardly, turning away and fussing with her workstation to hide her blush. "She had violent tendencies before she came to Kadara. Who knows what she's capable of now?" She closed the files she had been perusing, waiting for the heat to leave her cheeks before turning back to face Sara.

"I know," Sara said seriously. "I had SAM pull her files for me. I'm not going in blind. She's a maniac, but she's not an idiot. I know I need to keep in line, and I'll bet _she_ knows not to risk a retaliation from the Initiative by messing with a Pathfinder."

"You're currently _the_ Pathfinder," Suvi replied, as though she needed to remind Sara. She could only imagine how stressful it must be being the sole Pathfinder for the entire Initiative. "And I'm worried that she's asked for you to arrive alone."

"She's just showing us who's boss," Sara assured her, dismissing Suvi's concerns with a shake of her head. "We'll play her game, get our info from Vehn Terev, and then leave."

"You make it sound so simple," Suvi said with a soft smile. Sara sounded so confident, like that was exactly how things would unfold. As though they weren't terminally unlucky, scrabbling about in the dark and struggling to succeed.

"Hopefully it will be," Sara said. An odd look crossed her face then, as she offered Suvi a sloped smile- Suvi's stomach fluttered with butterflies as it usually did when met with that smile- though her eyes grew dark.

"Is something bothering you...?" Suvi asked warily, knowing Sara was more likely to lie and walk away than admit she had a problem.

"No," Sara said immediately. Then, "yes. Maybe."

Suvi frowned faintly and tipped her head. Sara paused, coffee mug halfway to her mouth, because maybe she _should_ speak her mind. Suvi watched her quietly, waiting for an answer. She put the mug down on the top of Suvi's workstation, feeling the magnetic base grip the surface.

"Can I ask you something?" Sara's heart clenched. It was a simple question, or it should have been. For Sara though it was anything but simple. It was showing weakness, letting her guard down.

"Of course." Suvi looked up at her, ocean eyes curious. Sara met her gaze and faltered. She needed to know, _needed_ to. But the words caught in her throat. She felt the usual walls build up, guarding her against revealing too much. She couldn't, absolutely couldn't let anyone in, couldn't reveal her heart. She needed to be strong. Or, at least, she needed to _appear_ so.

She gave a crooked smile, hiding the inner turmoil, and shook her head. "You know what? It doesn't matter."

Suvi tipped her head to one side, turquoise gaze inquisitive. "It doesn't?"

Sara faltered, genuinely considering for one bizarre moment the possibility that Suvi could read minds. The way the redhead watched her, as though Sara's thoughts were etched into her skin, like a book easily read by her quick mind... Didn't make Sara feel as uncomfortable as she thought it should. The walls inexplicably lowered somewhat, teased away by Suvi's calming presence. Something about the redhead invited confidence, made it... Okay to talk. Sure, they'd had plenty of conversations about all kinds of things before, but this was different. More personal.

"I'm just curious," Sara said slowly, and hesitated, waiting for the walls to start frantically building again. But they didn't. Something in Suvi's gentle eyes urged her on. This was weird... "Sometimes I wonder if my Dad made the right choice with me, making me Pathfinder," this was _so_ weird. She hadn't even spoken to Lexi about these concerns, had barely mentioned it in passing to Cora, her best friend. "Cora trained for the role and... She would be an amazing Pathfinder. She's a natural born leader, she's level-headed and... I'm..." she paused. She was impulsive, reckless, lost... And she was revealing too much. She shook her head and shrugged, the walls finally starting to rebuild. "I'm me."

There was more Sara had to say, but Suvi could see the Pathfinder closing off. The moment of vulnerability was over. Sara was back to being armoured up against such outbursts. She hadn't even really asked a question, though Suvi understood the one she had tried to speak.

"Can I say something?" Suvi asked, almost mirroring Sara's earlier question. Sara paused, studying her science officer curiously, because it seemed intentional.

"Anything," Sara replied genuinely.

Suvi smiled faintly, knowing her words could cause Sara to withdraw further, to escape any suggestion of her seeming 'weak' or 'vulnerable', as though having worries and emotions made her lesser somehow."It's not a question of who trained or who's better," Suvi stated with certainty.

"It's not?" Sara asked, brow creasing with confusion.

Suvi shook her head. "Cora would have been a great Pathfinder. But so are you. You're brave, kind, selfless-" _beautiful_. The thought made Suvi falter a moment before she continued firmly "-and I don't speak only for myself when I say we would follow you into the mouth of Hell if you asked." Suvi's eyes were bright with sincerity. Sara looked taken aback by the outburst. "No amount of training could have prepared anyone for Andromeda. You would be the same woman standing right here without the Pathfinder title. You are incredible. And one day you'll realize that."

"I, um," Sara frowned and coughed, trying to find her voice through the emotion welling in her chest. "Thanks." She offered a small smile.

Suvi returned it, expression soft and gentle and understanding. "Sometimes our brains tell us we're not good enough, despite overwhelming contradictory evidence. And it's okay to have those thoughts. And I'll always be here to tell those thoughts where to stick it." She flashed a rare cheeky grin.

Sara couldn't help but to utter a laugh of surprise. "Feisty!"

"That happens sometimes," Suvi replied seriously. "But only if the situation really calls for it." She gave another playful smile, and Sara realized with a faint thrill that Suvi was teasing her, making light of the moment so that Sara could find her feet.

Sara paused at the sudden rush of fondness for the gentle scot, at the way Suvi had the measure of her without asking, before offering a crooked smirk. "I promise I won't tell on you."

"Thank you," Suvi said, lifting her mug to her lips and blowing across the surface of her tea to cool it. "I don't want everyone realizing I'm not quite as calm and collected as they think I am."

Sara found herself laughing at the spark of mischief in Suvi's turquoise gaze as the redhead sipped at her tea. She was seeing the usually reserved and awkward scientist in an entirely new light, and she was loving it.


	15. Headbutt

**A/N: Ah, the dysfunctional family that is the Tempest crew… :P**

* * *

The first clue Lexi had that something was amiss was when she heard a dull thud from the galley followed by both Drack and Liam roaring with laughter. She wasn't sure why, but her doctor-sense (a name Sara had given to the almost preternatural sixth sense Lexi had for instantly knowing when the Pathfinder was causing mischief) tingled. She lifted her head suspiciously, ears straining to catch further sounds. Hearing nothing else she deemed herself paranoid and went back to reading her datapad, leaning back in her wheely chair and setting it spinning lightly by nudging her foot against her desk.

And then Sara's voice, muffled by the walls between them, joined the sound of the boys laughing and Lexi knew, she just _knew_ , that the three of them were up to no good. She closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath through her nose and huffing it out in a sigh as she tossed her datapad onto the desk and rose from her chair to cross the medbay. The doors hissed open and she swept through them, heading across the corridor to the doors opposite which parted to allow her into the galley.

The laughter immediately stopped.

Lexi glanced around the room, taking in the scene in seconds. Drack and Liam stood at the counter across from her while Sara sat slumped in a chair at the table in the corner, holding her head in her hands.

Liam coughed and averted his gaze from Lexi's suspicious stare. Drack gave a toothy grin.

"Uhoh..." The ancient krogan rumbled, looking anything but concerned for the situation. Instead, he looked thoroughly amused.

Sara looked up at Lexi in a daze, a prominent red lump showing on her forehead, easily visible against her fair skin.

"Do I want to know the specifics?" Lexi demanded, moving straight to Sara's side to check her injury.

Liam cleared his throat awkwardly and Lexi looked over her shoulder at him. "I, ah… may have dared Ryder to headbutt Drack..." He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck and looking anywhere but Lexi.

"Liam!" Sara whined as Drack started laughing again.

"Kid's got a mean headbutt for a squishy!" He said proudly.

"Nakmor Drack, if you've given the Pathfinder a concussion...!" Lexi warned.

"I'm just toughening her up," Drack growled, a chuckle rumbling in his chest.

"By breaking her _head_?" Lexi demanded. Drack just grinned. "You know her skull recently had a hairline fracture?"

"I'm fine," Sara insisted irritably, pushing Lexi away.

"You're an absolute nightmare, Ryder," Lexi grumbled, turning back to her patient. "You know that, right?" She gently tipped Sara's chin back to look into her eyes, holding up one finger for the Pathfinder to focus on.

"Yes, mistress," Sara muttered, glaring as she dutifully tracked the raised finger. Liam snorted behind Lexi, then began coughing into his fist in an attempt to cover it.

"What?" Lexi sharply demanded of Sara.

Sara stilled, blue eyes wide as she met Lexi's slightly irked stare, then offered her most innocent smile, which, for Sara, was strangely angelic. "Nothing!"

Lexi wasn't fooled, but didn't press the matter. "It's like you're determined to give me a heart attack. Was your father this reckless?"

"Clearly," Sara drawled sarcastically. He had, after all, interfaced with unknown alien tech and sacrificed his life to save his daughter.

Lexi pursed her lips. She deserved that, she supposed.

Lexi sighed and stepped back from Sara. "You're lucky you just have a bruise."

"You mean... I'm fine?" Sara asked with a little smirk.

"Yes, Ryder," Lexi replied a little tersely. "You're fine."

"Like I said I was?" Sara pushed smugly.

Lexi fixed her with a frosty stare, to which Sara responded by twitching one eyebrow.

"No more headbutting," Lexi said finally, turning her gaze to Drack. "No more dares or bets." Liam looked away, eyes darting guiltily to Sara. "I'm sure you've heard the saying 'it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye'?" She shot Sara and her bruise a pointed look.

"Ryder's harder than she looks," Drack rumbled indifferently, folding his arms.

"She's not indestructible," Lexi shot back.

"She's sitting right here," Sara muttered moodily.

Lexi gave Sara another look, softer this time. "If you get a headache, or start to feel sick, come and find me, okay?"

"Sure thing, doc," Sara nodded.

Lexi paused a moment, watching her, then turned to Liam. "You make sure she does."

Liam nodded vigorously. "I will."

And Lexi knew he would. She could, at least, count on him for that.


	16. Kurinth's Bow

The angaran scientists stationed on Havarl had sent a message to Sara informing her they had contradictory and mostly unconfirmed sightings of spiky grey aliens wandering the jungle, aliens that sounded a lot like the ones the Andromeda Initiative had apparently misplaced. Sara had immediately demanded the Tempest leave Kadara and head to Havarl to investigate. It was most likely a wasted journey, but there was a chance turians from the missing Ark Natanus had somehow found their way to the jungle planet. It was at least a lead of sorts and perhaps it could help locate the rest of the arks.

Sara gave a soft sigh and pushed back from her desk to stare across her quarters at the long window that bordered one side, through which she could see the flickering light streams of FTL travel. They were jumping across the galaxy at high speed, and yet she had time to kill. Time she had decided to spend going through the long-neglected multiple messages that had built up on her console. What idiot had decided the Pathfinder should be so easily reachable?

She brought one leg up onto the edge of her chair and leaned her chin on her knee, returning her gaze to her console and flicking idly through messages. She had at least replied to the important ones. Her inbox was now cluttered with messages from Drack, who seemed to think image dumps of his favourite guns would be calming, along with reams of inspirational stories and quotes and god-knows-what from Liam. She got double the asari advice from Cora and Lexi. She picked one at random, opening a message from Lexi and scanning the contents.

Yoga. Asari yoga. Lexi had sent her a list of poses and motions, with clear instructions on how to do them.

"Lexi, why?" Sara muttered, winding one end of her bootlace around her forefinger as she scrolled through the wall of text. There was a _lot_.

She dimly recalled Cora once telling her about the various health benefits of asari yoga, but Sara had stopped listening halfway through as she usually did when the former huntress spoke about her Thessia training. Sara had more or less heard it all before from her one way or another.

Tevura's embrace... Matriarch's pose... Sara;s gaze scanned the text curiously. It couldn't hurt to give it a try...

She spun her chair around and hopped to her feet, pulling her hoodie off over her head and tossing it onto her desk as she kicked off her boots.

"Okay," she said, lacing her fingers in front of herself and cracking her knuckles. She swung her arms and hopped from foot to foot to loosen up, then leaned forwards to look at the instructions on her console. "'Standing, spread your legs apart, turning one foot outwards'..." she read the passage twice to commit it to memory, then stepped back. "'Take a deep breath'..." she muttered to herself, and slowly inhaled through her nose. As she exhaled she carefully swept one arm downwards, leaning forwards until her fingers brushed her ankle. "Am I doing this right?"

" _I am not sure_ ," SAM answered instantly. " _What is it you are attempting to do_?"

"Rhetorical question, SAM," Sara explained, standing straight again and repeating the sweeping motion with her other arm, leaning down to touch her toes and holding the position. "I think it's right?"

SAM remained silent this time.

Behind her the door to her quarters whispered open and Cora strode inside, brandishing an empty coffee cup. "Ryder, I found your mug in my plants aga- oh..." She halted after taking several steps over the threshold and stood blinking at the somewhat bizarre sight of Sara bent over with her butt in the air and holding one ankle.

Sara heard the door panel whoosh closed as she straightened and turned to face Cora, hooking her thumbs into her belt-loops. "Did you know, in civilized cultures we knock before entering someone's quarters?" She teased.

"Was that... Are you... Was that 'Kurinth's Bow'?" Cora sputtered, caught somewhere between amusement and excitement.

Sara beamed proudly. "So, I _was_ doing it right!"

"You're doing asari yoga?" Cora asked eagerly, rushing to Sara's desk and dumping the mug.

"Eh, trying..." Sara admitted, rubbing the back of her neck and shrugging her shoulders. "Lexi mailed me some stuff and I was bored..." she gestured vaguely to her console, still displaying the message behind her.

"I can teach you!" Cora said brightly.

Sara opened her mouth to decline, but then she hesitated. While it wasn't something she was particularly interested in, it _would_ be nice to let her friend share something that _she_ was passionate about. So she smiled and nodded. "Sure."

Cora dragged them into the centre of the room where there was more space to work with.

"We need to centre ourselves first," She explained, standing in front of Sara and closing her eyes. "Inhale slowly through your nose," she demonstrated, "and out through your mouth."

"Is this necessary...?" Sara asked with a tiny frown. She wanted to do the motions Lexi had written down, not learn breathing exercises. She already knew how to breathe.

Cora cracked an eye open. "It's important."

"Why?"

Cora opened the other eye too. "This isn't just waving your arms around, it's about finding peace and-"

"Okay, breathing," Sara interrupted, closing her eyes and audibly taking a deep breath in and blowing it out slowly. "See?" She flashed a cheeky grin.

"You're a pain in the butt," Cora muttered.

"Love you too, Harper."

Cora rolled her eyes, then settled back into her breathing exercises. She allowed herself to relax, concentrating on inhaling and exhaling until she could hear Sara start to fidget. She hid a smile and opened her eyes to find Sara stood shifting from foot to foot with each breath, needing, as always, to be on the move. There was a look of utmost concentration on her face and Cora had to grit her teeth to keep from laughing; Sara couldn't possibly be feeling relaxed while thinking so hard about breathing.

Cora swallowed her smile and adopted an appropriately serene expression. "Ready?" she asked quietly.

Sara's eyes snapped open and she grinned. "Okay, yes!"

"Follow my lead," Cora said, taking up a stance that Sara dutifully copied. "Down to the breathing."

"Asari are deadly serious about their breathing..." Sara commented with a faint smirk.

Cora gave her an exasperated look. "It's about-"

"Inner peace and relaxation and blah blah blah," Sara interrupted. "I get it."

Cora studied her a moment, then stepped out of her stance with a slow grin.

Sara looked worried, fearing she had offended her friend. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

Cora looked amused. "No, no," she said, waving off the apology. "I just had a better idea."

Sara hesitated, sensing she wasn't going to like it. "You did...?"

Cora crossed the room and sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the wide window across from Sara's desk, where light still streamed passed in a flickering river of colour. She looked expectantly at the Pathfinder and patted the space in front of her. "Sit."

"Why...?" Sara asked suspiciously, though she made her way over and sat opposite Cora.

"I think before we even touch yoga you need to learn how to centre yourself," Cora said, and paused for effect. Sara merely stared blankly at her. "We're going to learn how to meditate."

As expected, Sara's nose scrunched in distaste.

"Don't look at me like that, I think you'll find it very beneficial."

"Did Lexi put you up to this?" Sara demanded. She leaned back on her palms but remained sitting.

Cora smiled and shook her head. "No, she didn't."

Sara heaved a dramatic sigh. "Okay, teach me how to sit still and breathe."

* * *

"How do you feel?" Cora asked. They had sat in silence together for some time with minimal fidgeting from Sara which was a miracle in itself.

Sara considered, looking down at her hands as she toyed with the hem of her trousers. She felt... Relaxed. And energized, all at once. It was bizarre but she liked it.

"I like this more than when you're beating me up," she said eventually.

"Sparring, Ryder..." Cora corrected drily.

Sara regarded her with a raised eyebrow and a crooked grin. "It's a little one sided though, don't you think?"

Cora grinned back at her. "Well, I _did_ train as a huntress..."

Sara nodded and climbed to her feet. "Oh I know." she reached down and helped Cora to her feet just as an almost imperceptible shudder ran through the ship. They had reached their jump point just outside the atmosphere of Havarl. Sara glanced towards the window to see the planet looming large ahead of them. "Time to see some angara about some turians..."


	17. Glow-in-the-Dark Plants

Havarl, the ancestral home of the angara, was never truly dark, despite the thick jungle canopies creating a leafy green ceiling that blocked out most, if not _all_ of the sky. Everything shone with an ethereal starburst of light, each broad leaf gleaming with a beautiful bio-luminescence. The planet's lush ecology had been spiralling out of control, but with the vault stable once more it was rapidly recovering.

There was still much to do on the planet despite having no outpost there, such as investigating remnant ruins that had been giving off bizarre readings. Sara, Liam and Jaal had dug through the rubble and discovered some sort of data core. Unfortunately, the remnant hadn't been too keen on the idea of relinquishing it and had attacked.

Sara sat down heavily on a rock as the final observer bot dropped to the ground with a metallic crunch, shrapnel spraying across the dirt. She winced as she returned her rifle to its shoulder holster, feeling the wound that slashed horizontally across her bicep flare hot with pain.

"Tempest, this is ground team," Liam started, looking at her worriedly.

Sara's head snapped up and she narrowed her eyes. "Don't you dare," she growled, and he stared at her with wide eyes as Kallo answered the call.

" _Go ahead, ground team_ ," the salarian said mildly.

"Uh…We…Got a…magic gadget…" Liam finished lamely, looking down at the metallic orb he held, the glyphs glowing deep blue across its polished black surface.

Kallo paused uncertainly, "… _Would you like me to patch you through to Peebee_?" He offered.

"Not necessary. Ground team out!" Liam hurriedly swiped his omni-tool off.

"You need medical attention," Jaal told her without looking as he scanned their surroundings for more enemies.

"I'm _fine_ ," Sara said. "I'll see Lexi when we get back. I'm not calling it in and giving her the satisfaction of forming a full-blown rant before I turn up." She glanced down at her right arm. She had lost her shields to an observer laser that had cut through her armour deep into the skin below before she could find cover. She could feel the wound grow numb as her armour began to auto-apply medigel to the affected area. She rolled her shoulder experimentally, barely feeling the pain now, then climbed to her feet. "Come on, let's go."

"If Lexi's busy, or disembarked to speak to someone, what then?" Liam asked, following Sara as she lead the way back through the jungle towards their ship.

"Then I'll have to wait."

"Sara…" Liam sighed.

"I'm fine, it's just a flesh wound!" Sara insisted. "I've had worse, you know?"

"I know, and that's why I worry," Liam replied.

"You are fighting a losing battle," Jaal told him, chuckling.

* * *

Lexi pursed her lips as Sara entered the medbay, smiling brightly at the asari. She put down the datapad she had been perusing, leaving it on her desk, and crossed the room to the cheerful Pathfinder. Sara had stripped off her armour and showered, made herself a coffee and a snack and generally faffed about in her quarters before coming to see the doctor. And Lexi knew. Of course she knew.

"Liam was comming us to have me on stand-by, wasn't he?" She asked, guiding Sara over to one of the beds. Jaal had stopped by the medbay as Sara showered to give the asari a heads up, most likely in case Sara opted out of her visit. And, while the Pathfinder had obviously avoided the asari doctor, here she finally was. Lexi had to give her kudos for that at least.

"He was," Sara nodded, hopping up onto the bed and shuffling to get comfortable. She brought her legs up onto the bed, crossed them and rested her forearms on her thighs. She wore a loose white tank top that left her arms bare, long hair still damp from her shower but pulled up into its usual high ponytail nevertheless.

Lexi dialled up her omni-tool while leaning in close to the medigel-sealed wound on Sara's bicep, giving it a once-over with her eyes first.

"But I didn't want you on stand-by for a tiny flesh wound," Sara added, watching Lexi work.

"You mean, you didn't want me prepping a lecture," Lexi corrected her, tapping at something on her omni-tool.

Sara snorted, as Lexi scanned her arm. "That too."

"Your honesty is commendable," Lexi commented drily.

"Yup," Sara grinned at her. "So, who betrayed me? Was it Liam? I bet it was Liam, it's always Liam…"

Lexi looked over the readouts from her medical scan, answering without taking her eyes from the display, "my lips are sealed."

Sara rolled her eyes dramatically. "Of course, they are," she muttered.

"Right, I'm happy to leave the gel on you for now, but I want to check you again tonight." Lexi swiped her omni tool off and finally met Sara's gaze. "You should be ready for the gel to come off in the morning. Unless you want me to break the seal on it and patch you up now?"

"I'm good." Sara adamantly shook her head.

"That's what I thought," Lexi sighed, folding her arms. Sara was far too impatient to agree to sit around waiting for Lexi to patch her up when she could just let the medigel speed up the healing process overnight.

"I can go?" Sara asked hopefully.

Lexi nodded. "You can go."

"Thanks, doc!" Sara hopped off the bed and hurried out of the medbay. She turned right in the corridor outside, making her way towards her quarters. Next stop was the bridge. She could hear voices in the galley as she neared; the rough growl of Drack and the soft murmur of Cora, Jaal chuckling at whatever was being said. She passed by the doors and clambered up the ladder outside her quarters. The medigel pulled at her skin as she climbed, gripping tightly to the edges of her wound. She hauled herself up onto the upper deck, picking absently at the medigel as she walked through the doors and onto the bridge.

Kallo and Suvi stopped their conversation to glance over and see who had entered their domain. Suvi's face lit up on seeing the Pathfinder, before she hurriedly turned to her work station to hide her expression.

Sara nodded a greeting at Kallo, then crossed to stand beside Suvi's chair, looking down at the redhead.

"Ryder," Suvi greeted her softly without looking.

"Hey, did you get those scans I sent you?" Sara asked.

"Yes!" Suvi looked up at her, gesturing to the display in front of herself. "I'm going through them now. Thank you so much! And yes, I'd love to see them first hand!" She replied to the second part of Sara's message from the field before Sara could press.

Sara laughed at the enthusiasm, turning to lean against the console in front of Suvi, crossing her arms over her chest. "Good. I'll take you tomorrow morning?" She offered.

Suvi smiled and nodded excitedly. "I'd like that."

"You be careful with my co-pilot," Kallo called over sternly.

"Hey, I'm always careful!" Sara protested, sending a pout his way.

"Uh..." Sara glanced back at Suvi as she spoke, to see the redhead looking pointedly at the wound on her arm.

Sara cleared her throat. "Usually..." She amended, rubbing a finger over the hardened medigel.

"Stop that," Suvi scolded.

Sara raised her eyebrows, and Suvi ducked her head bashfully. "Well, I should go. Got some stuff to do if we're going out tomorrow." She smiled down at Suvi, pushing off from the console. "See you guys!"

"Bye!" They chorused.

Kallo twisted round in his seat to watch the Pathfinder go, then looked at Suvi, trying to stifle a grin.

"Shut up," Suvi said before he could even open his mouth to speak.

Kallo was unperturbed. "It's a-"

Suvi cut him off, "no."

"Hmm, suit yourself," Kallo faced front again, watching the strangely glowing jungle visible through the windows.

Suvi let the silence draw out for a moment, then, "It's not a date!"

"I didn't say that," Kallo replied with a chuckle.

Suvi continued as if he hadn't even spoken, "she doesn't even know how I feel. And she certainly doesn't reciprocate. And if she knew how I felt she'd probably make Cora take me instead."

Kallo shook his head. "You don't know that."

"I do. I'm a scientist. We deal in facts," Suvi told him.

Kallo gave a small smirk. "We'll see."

"Kallo, you're the worst," Suvi grumbled.

"Thank you, Doctor Anwar."

* * *

"You made it?" Suvi asked in surprise.

"Well, Jaal helped," Sara rubbed the back of her neck, growing awkward at the appreciative look Suvi had fixed her with. "A lot," she added. "But…Yeah!"

Suvi brushed her fingers against the smooth armour plates, looking down at the suit again. Sara had readjusted some of her spare armour, repurposed it to fit Suvi's slight frame. "What if you need it?"

Sara shrugged. "I won't."

Suvi looked up at her. "But, what if-"

"It's fine, Suvi," Sara brushed off her concern, gestured to the armour. "Now come on, gear up."

Sara had already put on her own set of armour, heavy plates in blue and white. Her sniper and assault rifles were locked in position over her shoulders.

Suvi looked down at the armour laid out on the work bench before her. She was already wearing the first layer of protective fabric. It reminded her of a wetsuit for diving, though the material was thicker, rougher. "I don't know how..." She admitted quietly, embarrassed.

"I'm sure you know how to put on boots and gauntlets," Sara teased her. "I can help with the rest."

Sara chatted to her while buckling Suvi into her armour, and Suvi wondered why she so often became flustered around the Pathfinder. Sara's attitude was pretty easy going and soothed the nerves the science officer felt at heading out into the unknown, potentially hostile, jungle. Recently Sara had been stopping to chat more with her, pausing in the corridors or galley, coming to the bridge more when Suvi was on duty. They had spoken about everything from science to family, even Suvi's faith- Sara had disagreed, wasn't a believer, but had been curious and courteous which was refreshing- and through it all Suvi had always felt an edge of nerves. A worry about making a fool of herself in front of someone she wanted to impress, she supposed.

She looked down at herself, at the plates of armour that had taken the place of her usual red-and-white fabric uniform. She had never worn armour and it felt strange.

"I feel like an idiot..." she mumbled, laying her palm flat against the scuffed metal that covered her abdomen. Sara had a good eye. The armour fit near perfectly.

"But you look adorable!" Sara insisted, and Suvi could hear the laughter in her voice. She grinned at Sara's words. "Besides, you only get to come with me if you gear up, so..."

Sara had warned her that while the area they were headed to was safe enough, most things on Havarl seemed intent on killing them.

Plus, alone time with Sara, how could Suvi say no? Really unromantic alone time, but still. Progress was progress.

"This is me, gearing up..." Suvi sighed, letting her hands drop to her sides.

"Okay, how's that feel?" Sara asked, adjusting the straps of the chest plate from behind her.

Suvi could feel Sara's deft fingers against her shoulder blades and swallowed hard before answering, "fine. Thank you." This was getting ridiculous. Sara was buckling armour on for the awkward science officer and here she was, getting hot and bothered about it.

"Good." Sara rapped her knuckles against Suvi's newly fitted armour and moved around to stand in front of her, grinning broadly as she looked her up and down. "Cute," she teased. "Okay, now, stick close by and do whatever I say. I tell you to run, you run."

Suvi's eyes widened. "Will there be a lot of running...?" She asked.

Sara shook her head, hands on hips. "There should be no running. But just in case."

"Okay," Suvi answered uncertainly.

"And don't lick anything." Sara held up a finger in warning.

Suvi blushed, realizing Sara must have heard about her mishap licking Andromedan rocks. "You know about that?"

Sara snorted. "You share quarters with Cora. She brought it up. Seriously though."

Suvi looked down at her feet, suddenly shy. Beneath the teasing and the playful grin, she could see genuine concern. "No licking," she promised.

"Unless I ask."

Suvi's head snapped back up in surprise and she blushed furiously as Sara winked at her before striding over to the ramp controls. Suvi gaped after her. Was that- was Sara _flirting_ with her? She tried to smother the flash of excitement she felt. Sara played and flirted and mercilessly teased everyone she came across. Suvi wasn't special.

Sara glanced back at her as the ramp lowered and flashed the sloped smile that always seemed to fill Suvi's stomach with butterflies. Hot, damp jungle air swirled up into the cargo bay and Suvi could hear the trill of birds outside. "You ready?"

"Oh yes," Suvi said and eagerly darted forwards. The armour wasn't nearly as heavy as she had thought it would be. The weight distributed evenly across her body so that she barely felt it.

"It's not far," Sara told her, leading the way down the ramp and onto soft jungle soil. "You've got all your stuff?"

"Yes, Ryder, I've packed for excursions before, you know?" Suvi responded with a playful smile.

Sara rolled her eyes. "All right, I just don't want to get all the way there and have to come back because you left your tools behind."

Suvi raised an eyebrow. "I thought it wasn't far?"

Sara frowned and looked down at Suvi, as though seeing her for the first time, a crooked smile forming on her lips. "You're a smartass."

"I'm a doctor."

Sara laughed and nudged her shoulder. Suvi looked down at the ground to hide the joy she felt at being able to cause Sara to laugh at a joke. The ground was spongy beneath her boots, choked with weeds and twisting tree roots. She cast her gaze upwards, to the jungle canopies that blocked out the sky. Everything had an ethereal glow, all of the plants and trees. Havarl was beautiful. Suvi had only ever seen it through windows of the Tempest, but being there, amongst the softly glowing plants, feeling the heavy air on her skin, breathing in the scent of soil and pollen, and listening to the chirps and cries of animals, it was truly breath taking.

Sara watched with a fond smile as Suvi's ocean eyes turned wide with wonder, and the science officer stared around herself with a childlike glee. She decided then that, even if Suvi's studies of the area revealed nothing useful, the trip was still worth it for the look on her face. She turned away from the redhead, frowning at herself. Was Andromeda turning her sentimental?

Suvi suddenly squeaked and all but threw herself into Sara's arms. She seized the Pathfinder's upper arm and pressed close to her body, staring at something in the distance and breathing, "eiroch…"

Sara followed her gaze and could just see the behemoth through a tangle of vines that created a web between two trees. It was hunched down, utterly motionless and too far away to be any cause for concern. She patted one of Suvi's hands and grinned down at her.

"It'll ignore us providing we stay away and don't draw its attention," she assured the redhead. Perhaps she had made too big a point about the dangers of Havarl, she hadn't intended to have the scientist on edge for the duration of their walk.

Suvi let out a quick breath and looked up at her. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" She challenged.

Sara smirked. "Yup," she replied, and glanced down at Suvi's hands, still wrapped around her bicep. "Are you?" She met the redhead's gaze again and lifted one eyebrow. Suvi blushed and let her go, taking a step away.

"Havarl is…beautiful," she said, looking above them once more. It was so colourful and bright, the glowing plants like something straight out of a fantasy vid.

"It is," Sara agreed, eyes darting around their incredible surroundings, however, where Suvi looked for beauty, Sara was searching for predators. Her senses were on high alert though she projected an aura of calm.

"I've studied all the scans, and I looked around our landing zone though I didn't venture far. Drack said everything here tries to kill you..." Suvi said.

Sara laughed. "Not everything! Don't listen to Drack, he's such a cynic." She shook her head though continued to smile.

"True…Anyway, my point is that none of that prepared me for this," Suvi gestured to their surroundings.

Sara smiled at her. "I get you. This way." She pointed between two trees, ducking under draping vines that wrapped the lower boughs and hung like coiled serpants.

Suvi realized they had been following a sort of pathway that had been carved through the thick foliage. Now, though, they were headed through dense undergrowth, winding between massive trees that hid the sky from view. All manner of creatures chattered and squawked and growled unseen.

She looked back the way they had come to see it had already been swallowed by the jungle. It would be easy to get lost here.

Suvi quickly turned back to face Sara, shifting closer to the Pathfinder. "I hope you know where you're going."

"I'm a Pathfinder, of course I know where I'm going!" Sara said, looking over her shoulder and grinning. "And if I didn't, SAM would direct us," she added, seeing Suvi glancing nervously around them.

Suvi smiled gratefully at her, understanding that Sara was trying to make her feel more comfortable with being out of her element in a potentially hostile environment. "Good old SAM," she commented. SAM had been immensely helpful in their trials in Andromeda so far, and, no doubt, he would be just as much of a life saver for the foreseeable future.

"Yup. I don't know what I'd do without him," Sara nodded. The AI was with her always, a constant voice within her mind. She had found an affection for it that she hadn't been expecting.

" _I am melded completely with your nervous system. Without me you would die_ ," SAM helpfully informed them via Sara's omni-tool. Suvi stared at her in alarm with that revelation, at the casual way SAM spoke it, but Sara merely rolled her eyes.

"SAM, you are such a bundle of joy," she replied drily.

" _Thank you, Pathfinder_."

Sara shook her head and grinned. "That was sarcasm."

" _Apologies. I have no algorithm in place to detect use of sarcasm_."

Sara made no reply as she ducked under a branch. Her shoulder brushed the dull green moss that clung to the wood and immediately the area she touched began to glow soft blue.

"Oh," Suvi reached out to brush her fingers against the moss, entranced. Light blazed after her touch, a trail of blue amongst the spongy green plant.

Sara halted and waited patiently for her. Suvi peered beneath the branch at Sara and grinned.

"Touching it introduces oxygen to the underlying areas, makes it glow," she explained.

"Intriguing," Sara said, eyes alight with mischief. She just liked the look of the light, she didn't need to know the details behind it.

Suvi raised an eyebrow and ducked beneath the branch, falling into step beside the Pathfinder. Sensing she had perhaps insulted the science officer, Sara said, "you can explain? I just like the pretty lights."

Suvi laughed. "That's kind, but no. I won't bore you."

Sara grinned down at her, glad Suvi wasn't annoyed. "I'd do the same if we found protheans. Anyway, we're here." She nodded her head towards the sheer cliff face of dark rock that loomed suddenly through the trees. A shadowy cave mouth yawned wide, black save for several metres inside where a soft blue glow hinted at something hidden away.

"How did you even find this place?" Suvi asked as Sara took her elbow and lead her into the gloom.

"I was chased by a bunch of challyrion," Sara replied casually.

Suvi balked, "what?"

"They're gone now, don't worry," Sara chuckled, guiding Suvi towards the back of the cave where it curved out of sight of the entrance and became a warren of tough roots and vines. "They won't be bothering us any time soon."

Suvi followed her near blindly, glad Sara had a strong grip on her arm. She stumbled against a rock that jutted on the cave floor and felt Sara pull back, keeping Suvi on her feet.

"Careful," Sara said softly, voice echoing faintly. Water dripped somewhere near the back of the cave, an ever-present sound that accompanied the scuffing of their boots. The air was cooler inside the cave, smelled earthy and wet. The calling of the jungle creatures receded to nothing as they pushed further inside. As the soft glow grew brighter the closer they came to it Sara released Suvi, hanging back as the science officer made for the carpet of moss she could see that marked the start of whatever Sara had brought her to see.

Rock floor became dirt floor that turned soft with moss, shining with blue and purple light as Suvi walked across it. She rounded the corner and stopped in her tracks, blinking in surprise. It was like stepping through a door into another universe. She had left the shadows of the cave behind and found a narrow corridor that widened out into a cavern that shone with its own light. Giant mushrooms, huge ferns and climbing vines, all glowing softly blue or purple or green. A hole in the roof of the cavern let faint light in like a natural occulus, daylight filtering through in a shaft of pale yellow. Water trickled through a crack in the wall across the cavern, filling a small pool bordered by huge leafy bushes. The water was crystal clear, reflecting the light that surrounded them like a tiny galaxy.

"Well?" Sara asked from behind Suvi, smiling crookedly. Suvi turned to face her, looking stunned.

"I- it's…better than I imagined," she said, and beamed at Sara. "Thank you!" She turned back to the scene before her, starting forwards and reaching for the utility belt around her waist. "I need soil samples, and more scans, and I should get some of these back to Tempest…" She crouched in front of a cluster of flowers and Sara knew she had lost Suvi for the next few hours. She chuckled to herself and moved towards a smooth boulder to sit down, pulling her rifle over her shoulder and sitting with it unfolded across her legs. While she was certain the area was safe enough, she should still be cautious. Especially with Suvi so distracted.

* * *

They stayed until the daylight slanting into the cavern had all but disappeared. Then Sara lead the way back to the Tempest by the light of the jungles bio-luminescence, with Suvi hyping the whole way.

"Thank you so much for that, Ryder," the redhead gushed again as Sara took them towards one of the workbenches that lined the edges of the Tempest cargo bay.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," she said, as Suvi held her arms out to the sides so Sara could start stripping the armour off her.

"I'm going to review my findings and write it up immediately!" Suvi continued excitedly.

"Send it to me when you're done. I've been struggling to sleep lately," Sara teased, blue eyes flicking up to meet Suvi's.

Suvi raised her eyebrows. "Ryder, you're cruel," she said, though found herself unable to be annoyed by that cheeky grin.

Sara looked at her a moment, pausing in unfastening the plates against Suvi's stomach. She was used to the banter between herself and the others in her crew that often formed the ground team, playful jibes and traded insults. But Suvi was different. The science officer was softly spoken and gentle, Sara forgot to guard her tongue sometimes. Their excursion was the first time they had spent any time alone together at length that wasn't strictly Initiative related. "I am," she agreed seriously. "But I'm playing. Tell me to stop if I go too far."

"I will," Suvi promised her with a bright smile.

"If my crew feel they can't approach me then I'm doing a terrible job," Sara tossed the armour onto the bench, moved to the shoulder guards.

"You're doing a great job," Suvi replied, starting to remove her gauntlets as Sara moved off to the side. She was surprised at just how easy it had been to talk to Sara when any other time the Pathfinder had caught her Suvi had spent the duration of the conversation mentally kicking herself. Though she supposed those were times where Sara had appeared unannounced while their excursion into Havarl had been planned and she had had the opportunity to prepare herself.

"Thanks!" Sara said happily, moving behind Suvi to remove her chest plate.

"I mean it," Suvi addressed the Nomad as Sara was out of view. "Despite the odds you've already done so much for the Initiative. You've restored the hope we lost since the Nexus arrived in Heleus. Sooner or later you will realize your achievements. You have to."

"Is that an order?" Sara asked, laying another armour piece on the bench and moving back into Suvi's field of vision. She raised an eyebrow at the redhead, trying to fight a smile.

"Yes?" Suvi replied, sounding so uncertain that Sara started laughing.

"Okay, ma'am!"

Suvi grinned at Sara's reaction. "Really though, I'm serious."

She saw Sara start to close off, as the Pathfinder leaned her butt against the workbench and folded her arms.

"I'm sure you are," Sara said. She didn't want another conversation about her achievements versus her perceived inadequacies. She knew Suvi would never speak about their late night talk on the bridge with anyone else, but still, the morning after Sara had felt nervous and skittish after revealing so much to someone she had only known a short while. Even if that someone did seem to invite confidence.

Suvi looked down, fiddling with the utility belt that held her samples. "I should... Go clean up." Her clothes felt damp beneath the protective fabric she had been wearing under the armour, hot and sweaty and uncomfortable.

Sara reached out and took the belt from her. Suvi looked up at her to find the cloud had lifted and her eyes were bright and playful again. "I'll tidy up and get your samples to the bio lab." Sara slung the belt over one shoulder and began gathering the armour up. "Go take a shower."

Suvi smiled at her, reaching out to squeeze Sara's upper arm appreciatively. "Thank you. For everything," she said and turned away, heading for the elevator platform across the cargo bay with a definite spring in her step.

Sara watched her go, feeling an inexplicable warmth spreading through her chest. She pushed it aside and scooped up the discarded armour, carrying it towards her locker. She was stripping off her own armour when she heard footsteps approach from behind her.

Liam's voice accompanied the feet, "that's a nice thing you did for Suvi."

Sara looked over her shoulder at him and smiled and shrugged. "I guess…"

Liam leaned against the locker beside her and grinned at his friend. She recognized the mischief in his dark eyes, and had just began to narrow her own in response when he asked, "So, when do the rest of us get to go on a date with you?"

Sara rolled her eyes and slammed her locker shut. "Shut up, Liam."


	18. New Post: Movie Night 2

**A/N: Thanks to those reading these little updates and leaving reviews! This stuff is all written purely with my own headcannons in mind and I always get nervous seeing a review because I know everyone has their own views on the story and characters :P It's nice to know some folks are finding enjoyment with my ramblings. I have a whole host of different Andromeda bits and pieces that I'm working on because this game is still very special to me (yup, I still play it!). Stay tuned for more Andromeda shenanigans! :D**

* * *

Movie Night 2.0!

Tempest Movie Night was a success so I'm proposing we do another one! Last of the Legion was fun, but I'm putting a vote to the people for Movie Night 2: what do YOU want to watch?

\- Liam -

[comments]

Horror movie! [Sara]

Please don't make us watch horror films... [Suvi]

:( [Sara]

I'm with Suvi. Every day in Andromeda is terrifying enough without scaring ourselves with movies [Kallo]

How about a nice comedy? [Cora]

BORING [Drack]

Don't make me regret creating a diplomacy! [Liam]

ACTION MOVIE [Drack]

The Nexus has an excellent catalogue of Asari dramas. Very thought provoking. [Lexi]

That sounds great! [Cora]

Entertainment shouldn't require thinking! [Peebee]

This is why dictatorships are formed... [Liam]

Action movie! [Gil]

Seconded [Sara]

Thirded [Vetra]

Sounds like action movie wins the vote! [Liam]

SMILEY FACE [Drack]

* * *

 **A/N: So, I love reading the noticeboard :P**


	19. Finding Friends

Sara had seen many strange things during her time in Andromeda. Many unsettling and horrific things. Havarl, though, was different. It was as beautiful as it was deadly, and she loved to wander its tangled jungle. It was just so vastly different from anything else she had seen before. Growing up on the Citadel her experience of nature had been incredibly tame, and while she had visited other planets nothing had ever seemed so wild and fantastic as the Angara homeworld. Strange plants with purple leaves spread across the grass at her feet in a thick carpet, clustering around rough grey rocks and feathery pink ferns. Trees with thick twisting trunks reached for the twilight sky, creeping vines coiled about their boughs and hanging low, some brushing the ground. Glowing fungus sprouted from their trunks. Huge luminous pink mushrooms stood chest high amongst bushes with blade-shaped leaves that shone blue.

Creatures shrieked and chirped and warbled and chattered, rustling unseen through the undergrowth around them, mostly harmless. Sara knew predators lurked out there somewhere. For now, though, they were safe.

"I'm bored," Peebee sighed suddenly from behind Sara, breaking through her reverie. "We've been walking all day and found _nothing_. Zero. Zip."

"I'm familiar with the term 'nothing'," Sara said and glanced back over her shoulder to frown at the asari. "You _did_ volunteer to come along, you know?"

"I know, but I thought it would be more exciting," Peebee complained, swatting a vine aside as she ducked beneath a low-hanging tree branch. "A walk in the park would turn into a guns-blazing adventure when you're involved."

Sara lifted an eyebrow. Chaos _did_ seem to always find her…

"I'm sorry searching for my people is such a chore," Vetra said tersely. Sara faced front, looking at the bony back of Vetra's head. They _had_ been wandering around the jungle for most of the day with nothing to show for their troubles. They were now heading through the fourth sector Torvar claimed turians had been sighted in. Or maybe it was the fifth...?

Peebee heaved a world-weary sigh and Sara saw Vetra's shoulders tense, but instead of snapping the turian simply increased her pace and strode further ahead.

"Peebee, maybe consider the effect this is having on our turian friend?" Sara hissed at the asari.

"What?" Peebee asked loudly. "I get that it's stressful but that doesn't mean I can't be bored! We've been traipsing all over Havarl and we haven't seen any sign of 'spiky grey aliens'," she continued. "We're wasting our time. Havarl is _huge_ , those aliens could be anywhere.Until we have more to go on, we should head back to Kadara and-"

"Look, the anagra saw Something," Sara interrupted, catching Peebee's elbow and forcing her to stop and face the Pathfinder. Vetra realized they had stopped following her and stopped to turn back and look. "Something they've never seen before, something that sounds a lot like turians. Now, isn't it even remotely possible that the turian ark, like us, ran into trouble when they reached Andromeda? And maybe they evacuated? And maybe they're here," Sara paused and saw she had Peebee's attention now, the asari was clearly considering her words. "And maybe they're not. But I'm going to look and try my hardest to get to the bottom of this, because if our roles were reversed and we were stranded here I'd sure as hell hope the turians would exhaust all possibilities trying to find us."

"Thank you, Ryder," Vetra said, shooting Peebee a cool look that the asari completely missed as she sauntered off ahead.

"I feel ya," Peebee told them. "But I really feel like we're wasting our time when we cou-dah!" She tripped on something hidden in the undergrowth and went down face-first amongst a blanket of purple leafy plants.

"What is that...?" Vetra asked, keen eyes on something hidden beneath the purple leaves. She crouched beside her fallen comrade and carefully pulled foliage away to reveal a scorched panel of thick grey metal, half buried in dirt, half concealed by plants. It didn't look remnant _or_ angaran. She ran a hand over the scratched surface.

Sara dialled up her omni tool and held it over the metal to scan it as Peebee rolled onto her back and raised herself up on her elbows to watch curiously. "SAM?"

" _This is debris from the turian ark Natanus_ ," SAM informed them through their comm link.

Vetra glanced at Peebee, then hurriedly turned away to hide a snigger, getting to her feet and dusting her hands off on her trousers.

A slow smirk spread across Sara's face as her eyes, bright with mischief, sought out Peebee's.

Peebee narrowed her own eyes in warning. "Don't you dare..."

Sara paused to savour the moment, looking smug. "You were saying?"

"Dammit, Ryder!" Peebee leaped angrily to her feet.

"I think the humans call that 'karma'," Vetra said lightly, turning back to her companions. She reached out and brushed moss from Peebee's shoulder. "You didn't get any of those plants in your mouth, did you?"

"No," Peebee said haughtily, embarrassed at making a fool of herself. "I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"Oh, I didn't ask," Vetra teased and pushed passed her to continue their search.

Sara grinned at Peebee and patted her shoulder. "You deserved that."

"I hate you both," Peebee grumbled.

"Aw, no you don't," Sara said playfully, brushing a finger beneath Peebee's chin and winking at her before turning and striding after Vetra.

"You can flirt all you want, I still hate you!" Peebee called after her. Sara just laughed. 

Vetra had halted and was surveying the way ahead, listening to the sounds of the jungle. "Everything grows so fast here," she said to Sara, still peering into the undergrowth. "If there was ever a trail to follow, we'll never pick it up. And that's _if_ anyone made it out alive."

"That's not as big an 'if' as you might think," Sara replied. Vetra looked sideways at her.

"Ryder's right," Peebee spoke up as she caught up to them. "The angara saw something, right?" She flashed a grin, propped a hand on her hip.

"Oh, so now you come around to our way of thinking?" Vetra asked with humour.

"Maybe faceplanting the ground knocked some sense into her," Sara said casually.

Peebee rolled her eyes. "You're never letting that go, are you?"

"Never," Sara said, a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth as she swiped her omni-tool on. "I'll get SAM to scan for more Natanus debris, it might help us to-"

Gunfire. Easily recognizable amongst the natural sounds of their surroundings, and close by. The trio sprang into action, weapons finding their way into hands in the blink of a practiced eye.

"Where did that come from?" Sara demanded. She knew it had been towards her right, but that encompassed a vast area.

"This way," Vetra replied, already jogging off to one side as the chatter of more automatic gunfire disturbed the usual sounds of the jungle, and Sara's ears managed to pinpoint the exact direction.

"Ever noticed how trouble always seems to find us?" Peebee commented as they rushed towards the sound of fighting.

They could hear startled shouting, the crack of weapons firing, growing nearer and nearer as they ran. It could be a Roekar attack, it could be kett. It could be someone that needed help, or it could be someone they should steer well clear of. Or it could be the very people they were searching for.

Sara leaped over gnarled tree roots that twisted across the ground, knocked aside hanging vines and dodged beneath low-hanging branches. She saw muzzle flash through the trees ahead, heard the chatter of auto fire and shouting much closer now. She motioned for Peebee and Vetra to halt, then brought her rifle to her shoulder and peered through the scope, aiming through the sliver of space between blue leafy glowing bushes and dense black tree trunks. She could hear her companions breathing hard behind her as she tried to get a glimpse of the combatants through the trees. There; someone dashed passed the gap, rifle firing. Sara blinked in surprise, feeling elation swell in her chest as she lowered the weapon and charged forwards.

"What do you see?" Vetra asked, as she and Peebee hurried after the Pathfinder.

"Turians!" Sara cried and picked up the pace.

They burst through the trees into a wide clearing, finding themselves in a scene of utter chaos. Trees bordered a large rocky area, their branches reaching across overhead and knitting together to form a natural roof through which a deep purple sky was just visible.

Ramshackle shelters had been built around one edge of the clearing from the scavenged remains of escape pods and metal plating, most likely from more Natanus debris. And through it all a handful of turians raced with guns blazing, or crouched amongst the shelters taking pot shots, as a pack of challyrion ran rampant, charging through the camp with their camouflage active and then pouncing seemingly from nowhere, suddenly visible. It was clear the turians had never seen such things before and were in a state of panic.

A male turian was sprawled on his back with one of the beasts pinning him down. He held it off with both hands as its jaws snapped at his face. Sara tossed her rifle into the air as she ran, grabbed it by its barrel and swung it like a club with all her might. The stock smashed into the challyrions head and knocked it from the turian. She pinned it beneath a boot, switched her grip on her gun again and fired several rounds into it. Vetra hauled the turian to his feet before sprinting off to help someone else.

A ripple of biotic energy launched two challyrion into the air as Peebee swept through the clearing, throwing shimmering blue energy and firing her pistol.

Silence as the threat was ended, and the group caught their breath.

"You okay?" Sara asked no one in particular, blue eyes jumping from face to face.

"This planet is... Awful," a turian replied, shaking her head mournfully. They all looked exhausted, their clothes and armour scuffed and muddy.

"Eh, you get used to it," Sara said, giving a half smile while holstering her rifle over her shoulder.

A male turian stepped forwards, holding out a hand to her as he returned a pistol to its place at his hip. "Avitus Rix," he introduced himself.

Sara clasped his hand in hers and shook. "Sara Ryder, human Pathfinder."

Avitus' eyes lingered, as though hardly daring to believe she was really there. "You arrived just in time," he said, glancing across the clearing as Peebee and Vetra helped those injured in the attack.

"We found Natanus debris nearby, heard the fighting," Sara explained. She waited a beat, then, "what happened? Where's the ark?"

Avitus sighed and shook his head, holding his arms out at his sides as he shrugged. "No idea. I had to break out of my own damn stasis pod, now I'm here."

"A fall like that should've killed you," Sara said in awe.

"Hah!" Peebee laughed from across the clearing and Sara and Avitus looked her way. She was grinning at Sara. "You're one to talk!" Sara arched an eyebrow, but Peebee was right. She _had_ already died once while in Andromeda. Hopefully she wouldn't make a habit of it…

Avitus chose to ignore the remark. "Those pods are sturdier than they look," he said. "I've rounded up everyone that dropped near me, but most of the turian population is missing- including Macen, our Pathfinder. SAM hasn't transferred to me, so he's still alive. Just don't know where."

"He hasn't made his way to the Nexus," Sara said regretfully.

Avitus nodded. He had expected as much. "Knowing Macen, he's out there looking for me. He dedicated his life to Andromeda. He's too stubborn to die now."

"We need every Pathfinder we can get. We'll find him." Sara placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, keeping her expression stoic though inside she was fighting a smile. She sounded so damn professional right now, Cora would be so proud.

"Appreciate it."

Sara turned away to survey the ragtag group of turians in their camp. "Well, I guess we should formally introduce you to the angara and get you to the Nexus." She turned back to Avitus and grinned.

She couldn't wait to relay this one to Tann.


	20. Chemicals

**A/N: This one is set the day after Ch4 of my first Andromeda fic A Trail of Hope. Sara is injured in a mission and while high on painkillers she delivers the awkward flirting conversation you get in game when romancing Suvi :D**

 **Also, if anyone needs Netflix recs, 'The half of it' is really good wholesome fun!**

* * *

As Sara drifted comfortably on the edge of waking, she became aware of a sharp throbbing across almost her entirety of her back. And once she had noticed it, she couldn't escape its pull. She groaned and buried her face further into her pillow as the pain of her injuries brought her out of her slumber with a swift kick to the behind. She lay on her bed, on her front on top of the covers, still wearing her clothes from the day before. She could feel the tightness of bandages across her chest and stomach, hiding medigel-sealed wounds and holding ointment-soaked gauze to deep purple bruising. Right, because the day before yesterday she had thrown herself in front of Jaal to save him from a grenade lobbed by a Kadaran exile with stunningly precise aim. And yesterday...

Sara groaned again and bunched up the pillow either side of her ears, trying to engulf her head as though that could quiet her thoughts. Yesterday she had awoken in agony in the medbay and Lexi had dosed her up to the eyeballs on hardcore painkillers and released her into the wild and, in her delirious state, Sara had wandered onto the bridge and... Said things. To a certain gorgeous science officer.

Her brain helpfully selected a few choice moments to play back to her and Sara felt herself blushing furiously.

She was such an idiot.

She had known, deep down. The words didn't come from nowhere. The more she analysed what had happened, the more she realized: she had _feelings_ for Suvi. Feelings that she was unused to. That... She didn't remember having for others. Ever. How in the hell had she not noticed this before?! Where had that even _come_ from?

She knew she had found Suvi attractive since first meeting her, but people with _eyes_ could see that. Suvi was cute and dorky and that _accent_ and- okay, so perhaps Sara should have noticed way before a medication-induced high made everything so painfully obvious.

But... Perhaps she was mistaking a purely platonic love for attraction? Surely that was possible.

Who was she kidding, the feelings were stronger, overwhelming. What was going on?

She allowed her thoughts to drift, calling to mind her crew members, searching her emotions. There was Cora, brave and intense and stoic. They had known each other before Andromeda and, while Sara loved her fiercely, and Cora was certainly attractive... She didn't even feel a flicker of the spark Suvi fed. Besides, Cora was basically family. Next was Liam, with his warm eyes and big heart. No. Jaal, with his warrior spirit and new and exciting culture. Nothing. Vetra? No. Gil? No way, he was like a second brother. Lexi? Nope, more maternal. Peebee? Kallo? Nada. Drack? Absolutely not.

When she got to Suvi she reflexively blocked the thought. Took a deep breath. Exhaled slowly.

Let go.

She thought of fiery red hair and gorgeous eyes the colour of some tropical ocean, of soft words spoken with a Scottish lilt, of a musical laugh, a brilliant mind eagerly seeking any and all knowledge, an endearing awkwardness. She thought of that beautiful smile, of curious conversations about anything and everything in an attempt to extend visits to the bridge. Visits she had never even realized she had been trying to extend. That was, until now.

Warmth bloomed through her chest and her stomach jolted with an inexplicable fondness for the awkward scientist, to find her and hold her. There was no denying such an intense reaction. She turned her head to one side to stare across her room at the wall opposite her, ignoring her wounds vehemently protesting the motion.

"Fuck..."

She was well and truly smitten. Or... Was she? Perhaps it was a passing infatuation? Something that would fade with time if it was carefully ignored.

 _No_ , her mind whispered traitorously, _this is something else. Something more_. She stuffed that voice into a box and shoved it into some shadowy corner of her brain where it couldn't bother her.

" _Pathfinder, you seem agitated_ ," SAM spoke softly within her mind.

"I'm fine," she replied quietly, speaking out loud. But she wasn't. Not really. She was lost, adrift at sea- ocean eyes. She has eyes like the-

Sara jerked her head violently to halt that thought train, scowling across the room. She supposed it was only a matter of time before someone amongst the Tempest crew developed feelings for another. _That's not what this is_ , Sara stubbornly told herself. _Then what is it?_ Whispered that traitorous voice. _I'm arguing with myself_...

Sara uttered a frustrated growl and managed to roll onto her other side, glaring instead out through the tinted window across Kadara port. "SAM, I'm scared."

" _Why are you scared_?" SAM inquired gently.

"Because I think I'm falling for Suvi." Saying it out loud sent a bolt of fear, cold and sharp, through her chest. Her emotions were spiralling out of control; it made her feel weak, naked, as though she were no longer at the helm and it terrified her.

SAM spoke after a brief pause, " _I am not sure I understand_."

"Neither do I..."


	21. MissUnderstood

Gil found great satisfaction in his engineering capabilities. He was especially proud of his ability to receive the Nomad in a dire state after being driven through a combat zone and have it both looking and running almost factory-fresh before the Pathfinder next needed it. Which was why he was currently glaring at Peebee. Peebee, who had decided the best place to park her brilliant blue butt, despite all the other vastly more comfortable seats on the entire ship, was on the beautifully polished nose of his excellently tuned Nomad.

"Pretty sure Ryder didn't request an asari butt-print with her tune up," he remarked pointedly when glaring in silence didn't seem to be clear enough. Peebee either didn't notice or didn't care. Probably the latter.

"Oh, relax," Peebee rolled her eyes at him, not moving from her position cross-legged atop the Nomad. She leaned back on one hand, and Gil knew, he just _knew_ , there would be a damn hand-print there that he would have to polish away. "Ryder loves my butt."

"That's because she has no taste," Cora called over without looking. She had her armour laid out in front of her on one of the workbenches that skirted the wall of the cargo hold and was carefully going over the blue-and-white plates, checking they were all in working order.

Peebee stuck out her tongue at Cora's back.

Gil sighed loudly and resumed polishing the Nomads side panel with a soft cloth. "Why are you here, Peebee?" He asked, sensing she had something to say.

Peebee was quiet a moment, organizing her thoughts, then announced, "I just wanted to see if anyone else had noticed Ryder acting weird?" She glanced at Gil, then at Cora, who had paused in checking her armour to look over one shoulder at Peebee with her eyes narrowed. "You know, not that I really care, it's no skin off my nose if she's-"

"What do you mean?" Cora asked at the same time Gil said, "yes."

The trio paused, looking at each other. Peebee pushed off on her palm to sit up straight as Cora left her armour on her workbench and crossed the cargo bay to the Nomad, propping her hands on her hips. "She's been a little…skittish since waking up after the grenade," the blonde admitted.

"You don't think it _did_ something to her?" Peebee asked, trying to feign indifference. She was a free spirit with zero attachments to anyone or anything, she couldn't possibly be seen as actually caring for someone, especially someone tied to an organization such as The Iniative. Nosiree, Peebee was as free as they came. "Like the explosion scrambled her brain or something?" She screwed a finger into her temple for emphasis. Cora glared at the crude motion.

"Maybe she's..." Gil paused awkwardly, trying to communicate with the women telepathically by raising his eyebrows increasingly higher as Peebee and Cora stared at him in confusion. "You know... _on_ something?" He shrugged.

"What, like drugs?" Cora asked incredulously, frowning at him. No, that didn't sound right.

Peebee cracked up, tossed her head back and damn near _roared_ with laughter. "Ryder is _the_ most straight-laced rebel I've ever met," she said through giggles, flapping a dismissive hand Gil's way.

"She's all... Dorky," Gil insisted. "And jittery."

Cora looked amused. "I can assure you Ryder isn't as slick as she'd like us to believe."

"Well, she's not normally dorky and jittery," Gil replied almost defensively.

"Oh, she has her moments," Cora said, chuckling to herself. Then the smile fell. "Though, I've never actually seen her acting this way before."

"It must be this place," Peebee commented darkly. "Andromeda. It's screwing _everyone_ up."

"Most people are turning to violence, alcohol and drugs to cope," Gil said. "Sara's more like..." He trailed off, trying to find the words to explain just how his friend was behaving of late.

"A hermit on _way_ too much caffeine?" Peebee offered after some consideration. Sara had mostly been hiding in her quarters, and when she _did_ venture out, she seemed to be on high alert for something. Or someone? Maybe Andromeda _had_ got to her.

"Sara _does_ like coffee," Cora remarked, nodding slowly.

"I had a friend get addicted to coffee once," Peebee said helpfully. "He drank gallons of the stuff. We had to wean him off onto this horrible coffee-flavoured stuff and-"

"Pretty sure that's not the issue here, Peebee," Cora interrupted.

"Maybe you should talk to her?" Gil suggested to Cora.

She glanced away from him, brows knit in concern, as she nodded in agreement. "I will," she decided. It hadn't worried her at first. Sara had always been a little quirky, but now that they had been talking about it, and she had really thought about it, Sara's behaviour _was_ fairly strange.

She looked up at her comrades as she felt a heavy silence fall and found them both looking expectantly at her. "What, _now_?"

"Well, why not?" Peebee demanded.

Why not, indeed?

Cora sighed and nodded again. "You're right. I'll go find her."

"She's probably in her quarters surrounded by caffeine," Peebee quipped. Cora shot her a frosty look before turning away and crossing the loading bay, requesting SAM find Sara's location for her.

" _She is in her quarters_ ," SAM replied through her omni-tool. " _Shall I inform her you are looking for her_?"

"No, thank you," Cora said.

* * *

Cora barrelled straight into Sara's quarters without announcing herself and found the Pathfinder sat cross-legged in the middle of her bed with a datapad in one hand and mug off coffee in the other. She shot the mug an almost suspicious look as Sara glanced up at her, Peebee's words about caffeine-addiction floating to the forefront of her mind.

"I feel like you guys treat my quarters as an extension of the rest of Tempest," Sara remarked, tossing her datapad aside and leaning back on one hand to look at Cora with a raised eyebrow and a sloped smile. "Everything okay?"

Cora paused in front of the bed. Now that she was here, with Sara in front of her, she realized she hadn't actually formulated a way to question Sara, to get to the bottom of whatever was going on. As it was, Sara seemed perfectly at ease, and Cora began to wonder if they had been imagining things… But no, Sara had _definitely_ been spending less time with the crew, more time cooped up, and she always seemed on edge when she did venture outside. "I wanted to ask _you_ that," Cora said finally.

Sara looked confused. "Ask me what?" She sat up straighter, putting her mug on her bedside table, sliding to the edge of the bed and getting to her feet to stand in front of Cora.

"Some of us have noticed you're a bit… on edge lately," Cora began.

Her stance was relaxed, but Sara knew her friend was analysing her every move. At first, she was absolutely baffled by Cora's remark, but then it all fell into place with an embarrassing _click_. Suvi… Sara had been doing her utmost to avoid what she perceived as a problem, and that meant avoiding the Tempest's science officer who had the uncanny ability to pop up _anywhere_ , mainly due to her habit of walking around the ship while scrutinizing data readouts. Apparently walking increased brain function, not that Sara believed that.

Sara gave an awkward laugh, rubbing at the scar underneath her eye. "Ah, thanks for the concern, but it's nothing."

"You know you shouldn't bottle up your feelings," Cora told her seriously, as though ready to listen to Sara divulge some great traumatic secret that was eating her up.

"No, I know, but it's nothing," Sara insisted. "Really, Cora, I promise, I'm fine. I'm just being an idiot, but you need to trust me and just let me get on with it this time."

Cora was quiet for a moment, studying Sara. The Pathfinder's eyes were earnest, and her lips had quirked up faintly on one side. She looked embarrassed but not upset, or stressed or... High, as Gil thought she might be. "Okay," Cora said finally with a small nod. "I trust you, but if you change your mind and you need to talk...?" She lifted her eyebrows in question.

"I know where to find you," Sara finished and gave her a full smile then. "Thanks. You're the best."

"Okay," Cora said again. "I need to finish checking my armour." She motioned over her shoulder with a jerk of one thumb.

Sara smiled and nodded. "Sure."

Cora reached out and squeezed Sara's shoulder as she turned away, heading back out of Sara's quarters and into the corridor outside.

Sara watched her go and waited for the door to close before hiding her face in her hands and groaning. "Oh my _God_ , why is my life so humiliating? Rhetorical question, SAM!" She held up one finger, sensing the AI had been about to ask her for clarification.

She sighed and moved back to her bed, dropping onto the edge and staring down at her hands. She needed to work harder at controlling her feelings for Suvi before she freaked out the entire crew with her weirdness and they set Lexi on her. She had to get over this, and fast. Was it possible to guard her heart? To wall it off? Perhaps if she found bad things about Suvi instead of- no, that was an awful idea. Besides, Suvi had no bad points.

Sara uttered a growl of frustration and flopped backwards onto her bed to stare up at the ceiling.

"I hate everything."


End file.
